The Woods of Woodbridge

Blog Catch-Up

2011-11-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

It's that time again! I've gone back and updated our blog for the last several months. There are four new (post-dated) posts below including Halloween, our trip to Maui, Luke's Baby Blessing, and some miscellaneous photos from the summer, so make sure to scroll down if you are interested in all of the latest happenings. I even have my daily photo blog all up to date! Also, I know this may seem kind of needy, but... I really love blog comments!

Halloween: Cops & a Robber

2011-10-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

Around the beginning of September we got a few Halloween costume catalogs in the mail. Isaac had fun searching through them and looking at all of the costumes. After some consideration he decided that he wanted to be a policeman. He changed his mind a few times in the weeks leading up to Halloween, but when it came time to order the costume he stuck with his original plan. Luke & Cracker got no say in the matter.

I don't remember the pumpkin patches having much more than pumpkins when I was a kid. These days they are much more extravagant. There was a patch right near Isaac's school and everyday when we passed by he'd remind me how badly he wanted to go. So the week before Halloween we finally went. Isaac got to ride a pony, feed the farm animals, pull pumpkins around in wagon, climb on hay bales, bounce in the bounce houses, and picked a little pumpkin to bring home. I'm pretty sure it lived up to his expectations.

Isaac loved riding this little black horse named Thunder. He talked about it for days afterwards.

On Friday night our church held the annual Trunk-or-Treat where everyone parks at the church building and all of the kids get to go trick-or-treating to the cars.

Isaac loved it - especially the Loefke's maze. I think he went through it at least 30 times. It was funny when he saw his friend Hudson dressed up as a fireman. Both boys were genuinely excited to see the other's costume and seemed to understand that they kind of went together. They were really cute.

After running around the parking lot for an hour of so Isaac was content to sit in the trunk with Charlie and pass out candy for awhile. He liked talking to all of the kids and seeing their costumes.

On Saturday morning Charlie & Isaac carved the big pumpkin that they picked out at the pumpkin patch. It made me smile to hear Isaac tell us all about the seeds and guts inside the pumpkin, how we were supposed to eat the seeds, and how he knew what shapes to make the jack-o-lantern's face with. They read a lot of pumpkin books in his class at school.

Isaac's school had a costume parade on Halloween and all of the parents got to come and watch. Here he is "shooting" at the other children watching the parade. Nice, huh?

At last it was Halloween night and time for trick-or-treating! Isaac was just as interested in everyone's decorations as he was in the candy they were handing out.

We tried bringing Cracker out with us, but he was not being very well behaved. He got to ride in the stroller for awhile, but eventually he ended up back at home while we finished up our trick-or-treating.

And finally, here is Isaac putting those hand-cuffs to good use while we were at Target later that night.

The Woods go to Maui

2011-10-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Our little family spent the first week of October enjoying a fabulous vacation on the island of Maui. As always, we booked our tickets with airline miles several months in advance and then began the long count down and endless anticipation for our trip. My good friend Amy, that I have known since childhood, and her family were planning to vacation around the same time and I managed to convince her to come with us.

We left very early Sunday morning and after waiting through a two hour delay at the airport, we were on our way! This was Luke's first flight and he was the most pleasant little traveler ever.

By the time we checked in at the hotel it was late afternoon, so we met up with Amy & Paul and just headed to the pool for a bit, then grabbed a quick dinner at Maui Tacos that night. We got a phenomenal deal at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, and felt just a little bit spoiled enjoying the five star amenities all week.

Monday morning we headed out to the north west point of the island to see the Nakalele Blow Hole. This was one of my favorite things that we saw last time we visited Maui in 2007. However, just prior to leaving on our trip this year there were two separate instances where people were sucked into the hole and killed! So we didn't get quite as close this time, but it was still exciting to see the big sprays (though they are not that big in this photo) of ocean bursting up through the ground.

My other favorite thing on this side of the island is Napili Beach. It is a beautiful little crescent beach, protected on the north side which keeps the water very calm. We spent the afternoon here just relaxing and playing in the sand and the water. It was an ideal way to start the week.

Isaac found a big mound of sand where he dug two ramps: one for him, and one was a slide for his trucks. He would set his truck rolling and then race it to the bottom.

On Tuesday morning we headed down to Polo beach which fronted our resort. It was a row of beach chairs and blue umbrellas shading our fellow hotel guests. The sun was super hot that day and the waves were fairly big. We had a spot a little further back on the beach but it was funny to watch as rogue waves kept splashing up on the sand and carrying away flip flops and sunscreen bottles of unsuspecting beach goers.

We headed back up to the pool around lunch time and Charlie grabbed us some food from the deli at the hotel. We spent the rest of the day lounging on the grass and cooling off in the pool.

Amy & I exchanged lots of e-mails in the months and weeks leading up to our trip, but we didn't make any set plans until we actually arrived in Maui. On Wednesday we decided to drive the Road to Hana. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Life is a journey, not a destination." Hana is a very tiny town with nothing much worth seeing, so driving the road to Hana is really all about the journey with numerous waterfalls, beaches, and scenic lookouts all along the way.

Paul, Amy & Clara were also driving that day and we met up with them a few times along the way. We first spotted them on the side of the road near Ching's Pond - and I'm glad we did, otherwise we would have kept driving and missed this picturesque little spot. The road bridges right over the waterfall, and there was a local girl doing dives off of the bridge into the little pool below.

Next stop was Waikani falls. There was a trail you could take to actually get to the falls, but it looked a little too treacherous to attempt with our two little guys. It was still gorgeous from the road.

I think the Black Sand Beach at Wai'anapanapa Park is one of the most stunning sights on the whole island. I love the contrast of the bright green vegetation with the black lava rock and the clear blue ocean.

We ate lunch in the park there, and then headed down to the beach. One thing about the Wood boys is that they cannot resist the ocean. Charlie will always go for a swim. Turns out he was the only one swimming at this beach because we missed the signs warning of the man-of-war.

When we visited this beach on our last trip we never even noticed the sea cave on the edge of the beach. But Isaac discovered it right away and it turned out to be his favorite thing of the entire trip! He seriously could not get enough of this cave, and kept running back in to "feed" the waves (which meant tossing the smooth black rocks from the cave floor into the little waves that were splashing in).

Our next stop was the Red Ti Botanical Garden Maze. Here's the story: As our airplane was approaching Maui, Isaac noticed some farmland on the island with rows of crops that he thought looked like a maze. He is fascinated by mazes lately. Then as we were driving from the airport to Wailea we started passing all of the sugar cane fields and Isaac became very insistent that he wanted to go in what he was sure was the "maze!" Well we thought maybe since it was around Halloween time there might be a maze somewhere on the island. Turns out there is one, you just have to drive all the way to Hana to get to it. Actually, the attraction is a lava cave tour (which looked pretty cool), and then they just happen to have this Red Ti maze on the property too. Anyway, the owners were very nice to let Isaac into their maze even though we were not doing the cave tour.

Once you reach Hana you can either turn back the way you came, or you can take the less traveled back road that stretches along the deserted south east side of the island. We chose to take the back road this time and it made for quite the drive. The dry, windblown scenery was such a stark contrast to the lush greenery that we passed on the way to Hana. It was really quite pretty but the drive seemed to take FOREVER. Isaac was carsick and the rest of us were just sick of the car. When we finally reached Kahului again we stopped for a much needed break at Ululani's Shave Ice.

On Thursday we got back to relaxing on the beach. We headed to Big Beach with Amy, Paul & baby Clara. It was overcast with a bit of a breeze, and gigantic waves! Once again, Charlie braved the ocean and reportedly enjoyed body surfing in those monster waves. Luke napped in his little beach cabana (we borrowed this pop-up baby tent from my sister before we left and it really was the perfect little shelter for keeping Luke out of the sun). Amy had fun playing with Isaac and running in and out of the "monster waves." The pictures might not do them justice because the sand dropped down near the water, but I'm sure the waves were at least 10 feet.

We picked up some lunch from the Whaler's store and enjoyed eating out on the balcony of our suite.

After lunch we headed back to the pool for the afternoon. Isaac liked going back and forth between the baby pool, and floating in the big pool with his blow-up fish. Charlie & I took turns swimming with him and going down the water slide.

The dining options are somewhat limited in Wailea, especially since we were avoiding the upscale restaurants at the resorts. One of the better meals we had all week was at Matteo's Pizzeria. Charlie had a thin crust pizza with grilled vegetables and I had a spinach salad.

Friday we switched it up and did the pool in the morning. Luke is not much of a water baby. He typically screams his head off whenever I bathe him. I figured he would not be a huge fan of the swimming pool either, but I decided I'd try it anyway. He didn't scream, but he didn't really seem at ease either.

He was much happier on the warm dry towels.

Isaac, on the other hand, can not get enough of the water. And I must admit the water slide was pretty fun!

That afternoon we went to Palauea Beach, which was one we hadn't been to before. It was pretty empty except for some locals, and we had a perfect afternoon playing in the water and lounging on the sand.

Luke has not been the greatest napper. He usually only sleeps for about 30 minutes at a time, but while we were in Hawaii he was a champion napper! It must have been the combination of the warm sun and the soothing sounds of the ocean, because he took several hours worth of peaceful naps in his little tent that week.

Isaac was treated to full body massages several times a day. Charlie & I would take turns rubbing him down with sunscreen. The only problem was once he'd been playing out at the beach he'd be covered in sand, and rubbing sunscreen on top of that was no fun. Washing it off wasn't easy either!

That night we met up with Amy & Paul for dinner and tried out the Monkeypod Kitchen. I had a fresh fish sandwich - nothing special - but I liked the ambience of the place and that they sourced all of their ingredients from local farms. And we had a fun time chatting with our friends over dinner.

Saturday was another pool day in the morning, and we spent some time with Amy & Paul before we split up for the afternoon.

Here they are with their baby Clara who is just a few weeks older than Luke.

Isaac is pulling this silly face in at least half of the pictures from our vacation.

We spent Saturday afternoon at Makena Beach. It was sad to see our vacation coming to an end, but we made the most of our last beach day. I have a little less time to spend with Isaac since Luke was born, but on our vacation it was nice to have some one on one time with him again. We had fun digging in the sand, searching for crabs, and playing in the waves (his favorite was to "feed" them by throwing in handfuls of wet sand and calling out different kinds of food).

I was so surprised to see him draw this little monster in the sand. It's one of his first works of art that is something more than a scribble. He told me it was a monster with a lot of ears.

That night we had dinner at a Thai place in Kihei and stopped to share a giant shave ice afterwards. This picture makes me laugh because Isaac just couldn't resist pulling that silly face again - even if it is only with one hand!

The next morning we finally managed to get a picture together with Paul, Amy & Clara. It was so fun to have friends to vacation with, and I'm not sure why we didn't take more pictures together during the week. They had a morning flight, so they headed to the airport after this.

We just happened to see one of the groundsmen setting up to feed the koi fish and Isaac got a turn to help.

After we got all packed up, we spent a few more hours at the pool. The hotel gave us a hospitality suite so we could clean up later that afternoon before heading to the airport. Actually, our flight wasn't until around 11:00 that night so we had lots of time to kill. We drove up to Lahaina, where we walked around the shops, got some shave ice, and stopped to see this enormous Banyan Tree.

The red eye flight home wasn't too bad. Isaac slept for most of it, and Luke slept the entire time without making even so much as a peep. We had such a wonderful vacation and it was really fun to go with friends. We were sad to go home, but hopefully we'll be back to the islands again sometime next year!

Luke's Baby Blessing

2011-09-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

In our church newborn babies receive a special blessing given in church by their father. We blessed Luke on September 11th with lots of family and friends in attendance.

My parents and sister, Wendy came from Utah and Charlie's parents came from New Mexico. It was fun having everyone in town and we had a busy weekend. On Thursday night Sandy came out with her kids and we all went down the street to the Woodbridge Lagoon for swimming, dinner, and s'mores.

Janelle, Karl (Charlie's parents), Charlie, Patty, Dan (my parents) & Wendy (my sister) at the Lagoon

My Dad with my nieces Katie & Hailey, and Wendy

My nephew Ryan & Isaac feeding the geese & ducks at the Lagoon

My Mom playing in the sand with Isaac & Hailey

Luke & Charlie

Charlie's father, Karl wanted to take Isaac fishing. He bought him a little pole and we walked down to the lake to try our luck. Unfortunately, Isaac didn't have much patience for fishing and I'm not sure if there were many fish out there to be caught anyway.

Karl & Isaac waiting for the fish

On Saturday morning Charlie, Karl & I went for a run and then after that we spent most the day shopping, making food, cleaning, and getting ready for our company the next day. We had to stop to eat though! For lunch we decided to try out the food truck craze. We tracked down the "Lobsta Truck" in Costa Mesa and had lobster rolls, chips, and fresh squeezed lemonade for lunch.

Saturday night we got everyone together again to have dinner at The Whole Enchilada. It's a little strip mall Mexican restaurant in Diamond Bar that my family always went to when I was growing up. My parents like to eat there whenever they are visiting in California.

Wendy, Katie, Patty, Dan, Janelle, Karl, Luke, Carrie, Charlie, Isaac, Chris, Ryan, Sandy & Hailey -
Dinner at The Whole Enchilada

After dinner we went back to Sandy's house and played a little bit of Wii bowling.

Sunday was the Blessing day. Charlie was joined by several family members and friends, and gave Luke a beautiful blessing. Afterwards the bishop commented that he was watching Luke during the blessing and that little Luke had a big smile on his face the entire time.

After Sacrament meeting we hosted about 40 people in our little condo for brunch. It was a bit crowded, but we made it work and had a lovely afternoon.

My Aunt Karen, my Mom & sister Sandy

I was so thankful that Janelle was here helping us all weekend to get ready. The food turned out beautiful and her quiche was the star of the show with several people asking for the recipe. We also had overnight blueberry french toast, fresh fruit, muffins, a coffee cake, little smokies and a sparkling pink lemonade.

Charlie & our friend Pedro

Here's a few more photos of all of the family.

My cousin Becky & Aunt Kathy

My cousins Dallin & Roger and my Aunt Janet

My cousin Tom with his wife Krista and two of their children Stryder & baby Bennett

Karl & Janelle

Patty & Dan (my parents), with the Wood Family

Janelle & Karl with their grandsons Luke & Isaac

After getting the house put back together and relaxing for a bit, we went with Charlie's parents down to Newport Beach where we walked along the pier and watched the fishermen and the boogie boarders.

My parents were staying at Sandy's house and were planning to drive home on Monday, but I got a call in the morning letting me know they decided to stay an extra day. After taking Karl & Janelle back to the airport, and picking Isaac up from school, we drove out to Sandy's house for the rest of the evening.

Sandy, Carrie & Wendy (three of the four Stran sisters - we were missing Lisa!)

My Mom with Luke

My niece Hailey - she is the funniest little girl!

It was such a nice weekend with all of our family and we were so glad that everyone was able to come for the blessing.

Odds & Ends of Summer 2011

2011-08-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day

Our friends invited us and a few other families to their beach house in San Juan Capistrano for Memorial Day. It was a gorgeous day with perfect weather and fun friends. We played down on the beach most of the afternoon and Don & Charlie took the ocean kayaks out. Later we headed up to the patio to relax and have dinner. The little boys wanted to take a turn in the kayaks too. As the sun was starting to set, the boys headed out to the steps to watch the tide come in. It was the perfect way to spend our holiday.

Janelle's Visit

About a week after Luke was born, my mother-in-law Janelle came to stay with us for 10 days. Her visit was the greatest blessing! Isaac had a six week break from school and it was so wonderful to have Janelle here to help entertain Isaac & Luke, do things around the house, and help me to actually get out of the house. Especially since Charlie had to go to NYC on business during this time. I don't know what I would have done without her! We had a lot of fun too. We had dinner at the Lagoon one night - and Isaac decided he wanted to go swimming, in his clothes! I think I still owe Janelle for chasing after him. She also took him to the pool everyday while she was here and helped teach him how to swim.

Fourth of July

The Woodbridge community hosts all kinds of fun activities on the 4th of July. Charlie got up early to run the 10k (I skipped it this year... you know, since I had a baby less than a month before). Isaac got to ride in the Woodbridge Bike Parade. Then Charlie & Isaac had a water balloon fight in the backyard, went to the pool, and that night they went down to the lake to watch the fireworks.

Baby Shower for Luke

A few friends from my ward hosted a baby shower for the three babies that were born recently. I really didn't need a shower since we already had everything we needed for a little boy, but it was still very nice of everyone and it was fun to get together and talk and celebrate the babies. Amber was so nice to host at her home, and the shower was for me & Luke, Katie & Henry, and Rachel & Sydney.

Birthdays

Charlie turned 34 and we celebrated with a homemade German chocolate cake and dinner at La Sirena Grill. Isaac turned 4. His favorite gifts this year were the battleship & the spy plane from the movie Cars 2. His teachers made him a birthday crown at school. That night we went to Boomer's to ride go carts, had dinner at Super Mex, and then came home to have a lemon birthday cake.

Luke Martin Wood

2011-06-17T23:28:00.000-07:00

* I've never been very good at making a long story short. This is actually an edited version of Luke's birth story, but it's still quite long. Feel free to skip through it if you just want to see pictures. And here's the stats: Luke Martin Wood, born 6/6/11 at 9:39 pm. 8 lbs 12 oz, 20.5 in.

When I woke up on Monday, June 6th, the last thing I thought I’d be doing that day was delivering a baby. Yes, it was my due date – but who ever delivers on their due date? I went ahead and snapped my 40 week photo:

And then around 10:00 I went to the doctor for a non-stress test (NST). I hadn’t been feeling the baby move much over the past few weeks so the doctor had done an NST at my last two appointments and though everything looked good, he told me to come back for another one on Monday. The baby was moving a lot during the test so I assumed that everything was fine. But after about 15 minutes of testing the nurse let me know that the baby's heart rate kept dropping and that I would need to go to the hospital for some additional monitoring.

I called Charlie on my way out to the car. I was halfway home before it finally sunk in that I might be having a baby today after all! I made some arrangements for Isaac, grabbed my hospital bag and waited for Charlie to get home. We talked about stopping to get lunch on the way but ultimately decided to go straight to the hospital. I later came to regret this!

Upon arriving at labor & delivery I was assigned a nurse named Barbara who asked me a series of about a million questions and then it was time to pee in a cup, don the hospital gown, and let go of all modesty for the next 48 hours. I was dilated to about a 4.5 or 5 at this point. The results of the NST were basically the same as back at the doctor’s office. Inconclusive. Their best guess was that the baby was cramped inside and when he moved around he was placing pressure on the umbilical cord causing the drop in heartrate. Dr. Hagadorn finally arrived and recommended that I be induced.

We were taken to a room upstairs where they hooked me up to an IV and the doctor came up to break my water. I think it was somewhere around 2:00 or 2:30 by now. I guess this is where I should add that I had chosen to have a natural birth. Or at least I hoped to. My biggest hang up prior to that day was the fear of having to be induced. I had been having quite a few contractions and I was dilating so I knew that my body was at least somewhat ready to go into labor. I kept hoping that it would happen on it’s own so that I wouldn't need to have pitocin which can cause harsh and painful contractions. Luckily, Saddleback Hospital is known to be very supportive of natural birth and since there was no major signs of stress on the baby, or a big hurry to get him out, Dr. Hagadorn was okay with just breaking my water and seeing what happened from there.

So I took off to walk the halls, at what I was later told was quite the speedy pace. I really just wanted to get things moving! So I walked the halls trying my best to avoid running over my toes with the IV pole and dodging the various nurses, carts, visitors, and other pregnant women. At one point there was a woman who must have been having a painful contraction because she and her entourage (husband, nurse, doula, parents?) stopped and blocked the entire hall while she hung onto her husband and moaned and groaned for awhile. I still had no idea what hard labor was going to feel like. Was this going to be me in a few hours?

I was having regular contractions at this point, every 2-3 minutes, but they weren’t that painful. It was pretty similar to what I’d been feeling for the last few weeks. By about 4:00 I was starting to get bored. Charlie brought me a Diet Cherry Limeade from Sonic (my favorite) and I kept bugging the nurse trying to get a better idea of how long things might take and how painful it would be, but she pretty much refused to make any predictions.

Barbara’s shift was over at 7:00, so she checked me one last time aand said I was dilated to about a 7… I think. And then I got a new nurse named Tammy - who I was a little skeptical of at first because she looked so young, but who ended up being totally wonderful to help me get through the hard part of my labor. My contractions started to get painful at this point, but still totally manageable. They had slowed to every 5-8 minutes or so. I was feeling a little discouraged that 5 hours of labor had only gotten me about 2 cm further along. Charlie & I were both thinking it might be a long night.

It got to be 8:00 and I tried watching The Bachelorette for awhile, but that was right about the time that the pain started to get worse. I think it was a little before 9:00 when I got up to go to the bathroom. I was in so much pain by then and I remember whimpering a little bit but trying not to be too loud. When I came out another contraction hit me hard and I had to lean on the sink (I was now like that lady in the hall!). Tammy was trying to talk to me but I couldn’t respond until I was through the contraction. She had me lean on the edge of the raised bed and told me to rock back and forth during contractions.

Okay, so this is where things started to get bad. Very bad. Or at least very painful. I knew that I was supposed to relax so that the contractions could do their work, but each time another one hit I couldn’t help but tense up more and more. I never thought I would be a screamer – and I really wasn’t – but I remember burying my face in a pillow to muffle my cries a bit. Those last few minutes of contractions were just so all consuming. I think I started to panic because things got so bad so quickly. I knew I was supposed to be breathing, and I had prepared all of the things I wanted to focus on to get me through, but in the moment I couldn’t concentrate on anything except for the pain. I remember saying over and over “I can’t do this” and “I don’t want to do this” and Charlie kept telling me yes, I could do it. Tammy and Charlie were both great about talking me through it and telling me I was doing great and that yes, of course I could do it. Looking back I think maybe if I had known that it was only going to be a few more minutes, I could have made it through better.

As I was freaking out Tammy asked me what had changed. I told her I felt a lot of pressure and I guess that’s when she figured out that I had progressed so quickly. They had me get back on the bed to check me, and sure enough I was at a 10 and ready to push. And now that it was time, all I wanted to do was push! Of course then they told me I had to wait for the doctor. They had called Dr. Hagadorn, but he wasn’t going to be there anytime soon, so they brought in the doctor on call. At that point I could not have cared less who delivered the baby, I just wanted him out! They kept telling me not to push yet. One of the nurses told me to stick my tongue out and pant like a dog. I thought that was the weirdest suggestion ever and I remember telling her “I am NOT a dog!”

Finally the doctor arrived. The pushing went fairly quickly - maybe 5 or 10 minutes at the most. After giving birth to Isaac with an epidural where I felt nothing, it was kinda cool to be so aware and to feel everything that was happening this time. I still felt pain, but being able to focus on pushing made it more manageable. Especially now that there was an end in sight! I felt the episiotomy, I felt his head crowning, and then I felt a little body just slipping out. It was the weirdest feeling and kind of surreal, but such a rush of adrenaline and emotion.

Luke Martin Wood was born at 9:39 pm. He was 8 lbs. 12 oz. (exactly the same weight as Isaac) and 20.5 inches long. They put him up on my chest and I was just immediately filled with so much love for that precious little baby. Though I had felt him moving all around inside of me for the past several months, I could never visualize him actually being here. And then once he arrived, I just instantly fell in love. They left him up on my chest for a couple of minutes while they rubbed him down and cleaned him off a bit. I loved every second of it.

Right from the beginning he was such a mellow little guy. He barely cries, sleeps all day long, is a great eater, just fusses a little bit when he is hungry, and when he's awake he just sits contently gazing around the room. He is a perfect angel baby and I just cannot get enough of him!

Isaac came to meet Luke the next day. It took him awhile to warm up to his baby brother. At first he was just not interested. Charlie told him to come and count his toes, and see if he had teeth, etc. and that finally peeked his interest a bit. I hope that someday they'll be good friends, but for now it just makes me happy to see Isaac smiling and touching his brother so softly.

Charlie thought Luke looked just like Isaac when he was born. Luke has chubbier cheeks though. I think he looks like a huge baby in the pictures, but when I am holding him he just seems so tiny! During the rare hours that he is awake I love holding him in my lap and watching the variety of expressions he can pull on that little round face. Of course he still has the funny newborn look but I think this guy is absolutely adorable.

Now that some time has passed, I can look back on the whole natural birth experience and say that I enjoyed it. Okay, maybe "enjoyed" is not the right word, but I'm very happy with how it all turned out. I liked being able to get up and walk around, and I liked feeling the contractions so that I could gauge how my labor was progressing, and it was kind of thrilling to feel everything happening during delivery. I like to think I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and up until the last 20 minutes or so, I never even thought twice about wanting pain medicine. But yes, those last 20 minutes were torture. It was horrible and awful and I didn't think I could make it through. I'm so glad I did though and I'm so glad that Charlie didn't let me give up (I'm not sure I had time for an epidural anyway). Having a child with autism, you can't help but ask yourself what you might have done wrong. So Charlie & I just wanted to keep this pregnancy and birth as natural and drug free as possible. I did it for Luke, and I would do it all over again in an instant for this beautiful, healthy little boy.

And now for a few more pictures, just because. Cracker likes Luke. I think it is his instinct to protect him, so whenever he cries Cracker gets very concerned. Most the time though, Cracker just wants to take part in all of the cuddling.

Luke is super chill and content. When he is awake - for an hour or two a couple times a day - he mostly just sits and checks out the world around him. He hardly ever cries unless it is to say that he's hungry. But he's actually hungry a lot. He eats every 2 hours if he's awake, or every 3 hours if he's sleeping. He is a good little eater!

Here is Luke today, 11 days old. He's already changed so much since he was born. It's amazing how fast they grow! He is so precious and adorable, I kind of want him to stay this little forever.

* For more photos of Luke, you can visit my daily photo blog.

Vegas Baby, Vegas!!!

2011-05-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last month I had the chance to meet up with five of my old roommates for a girls weekend and roommate reunion in Vegas. Being a group of Mormon moms, it probably wasn't a typical "Vegas" weekend, but we had a blast!

Rebecca, Leslie, Mikael, Me, Amy & Erin (Rebecca & I were both 7 months pregnant!)

Friday night we stayed up late chatting, looking through Erin's enormous scrap books, and reminiscing on our BYU days. On Saturday we took advantage of the warm weather and spent the morning relaxing by the pool. That afternoon we headed to a nearby outlet mall for a little shopping.

Relaxing by the pool: Leslie, Erin, Me, Mikael, Rebecca & Amy

Erin, Amy, Leslie & I eating our food court "lunch"

Even though we were all enjoying a weekend away from our children we somehow ended up only shopping at children's stores! Here's Erin & Mikael at the Carter's outlet.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner at El Segundo Sol at the Fashion Show Mall before heading over to Treasure Island to see Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. I had never seen a Cirque show before and I was totally amazed by the incredible acrobatics. Afterwards we walked down the strip to see the Bellagio fountains and then made a stop at Serendipity to sample their frozen hot chocolate.

Dinner at El Segundo Sol: Mikael, Rebecca, Leslie, Erin, Amy & Me

Walking the strip, where we were quickly reminded why we decided to stay at a timeshare away from the strip!

Leslie, Rebecca, Amy, Erin, Mikael & me at the Bellagio

Amy & Mikael with our $10 Frozen Hot Chocolate. Totally overrated!

Everyone had to head back home on Sunday morning/afternoon so it was a really quick weekend. I think we were all wishing we had at least one more day, but hopefully we'll be able to pull something like this off again soon! And a big thanks to Charlie for staying home with Isaac that weekend. Apparently they had plenty of fun without me.

Isaac getting ready to ride go carts with Charlie. He LOVED it!

Las Cruces

2011-03-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

Three days after arriving home from Utah, we left for New Mexico to visit Charlie's parents. Charlie recently accepted a position with a new company, and upon giving his two weeks notice at his old job, was asked to leave immediately. So he ended up with two weeks off of work and more free time than he knew what to do with. We figured there was no better time for a road trip!

We made the drive out there all in one day (it's about 11 hours). Isaac was probably a better sport than I was about sitting in the car that long. He was entertained by things like windmills, semi trucks, big rocks, cactuses, and his favorite: the many many trains that we passed along the way.

Besides visiting with family, my favorite thing about Las Cruces is the food. We had some delicious meals prepared by Janelle, but we also enjoyed a few meals out at La Posta, Habaneros, and Cracker Barrel. And of course we made a few stops for Sonic drinks since it is conveniently located about a mile from the house (I'm jealous!).

Janelle and Charlie at La Posta

Isaac and Carrie at La Posta

Karl & Isaac watching a fishing show on TV and enjoying Sonic drinks

Ever since our last visit in July Isaac has pointed out every red jeep we see and tells me it is like Grandpa's jeep. He was so excited to get to go on more jeep rides! The rides are a little too bumpy for this pregnant mama, so Charlie and I enjoyed some alone time while Isaac went out with Grandpa & Grandma. They went geocaching out in the desert one day but Isaac was reportedly freaked out by the "prickly plants" so that didn't go so well. He also loved being out in the backyard digging in the dirt, playing with his trucks, and exploring among the brush in the back lot (as long as he didn't have to touch prickly plants of course).

He put his arms up to ensure that no "prickly plants" would touch him

Karl recently retired (kind of - he still goes into the office almost every day) from NMSU, but he is still a huge Aggie fan and goes to all of the games. And even though Isaac doesn't follow much of the game, he was thrilled to go a basketball game. We had fun cheering for the Aggies and it was so funny to hear Isaac yelling "Go Aggies, Go!!!" right along with the rest of the crowd.

Karl & Isaac cheering on the NMSU Aggies

Janelle, Charlie, Carrie, Isaac & Karl after the game

Another thing on the to-do list when we visit Las Cruces is to go see the farm animals at the University. Isaac ended up catching a cold and was in a rotten mood that morning, but he did think it was hilarious to see peeing pigs, and he was more than happy to climb up into the construction vehicles sitting outside.

Cracker came with us on this trip. He gets very nervous whenever he sees the suitcases come out because it usually means he is getting left. I'm not sure if he was trying to make sure he didn't get left in New Mexico, or if he just wanted a soft place to relax... Nothing like a bed of dirty clothes!

Karl & Janelle were wonderful hosts as usual, and we were sad to leave. They are planning to move to Price, Utah this summer so this was probably our last visit to Las Cruces and I'm glad we got to go one last time.

Utah

2011-03-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

In mid February Isaac & I took a trip to Utah to visit my family. It had been over a year since I had seen my parents, grandparents, sisters, aunts, cousins, etc. so it was about time for a visit! We were only there for four nights but we managed to see almost everyone. Here's a few highlights from our trip.

We visited with my sister Lisa and her family in Highland. Isaac had fun playing with all of his cousins, feeding the chickens, and playing in snow for the first time. We got very lucky with the weather because it was clear and not too unbearably cold, but there was still just enough snow on the ground for Isaac to play a little bit.

Barkley the dog, Lisa, a chicken (sorry I don't remember any of their names!), and Isaac

The tiny little snowman that Isaac and I built

My Grandma, sister Lisa, niece Katie, Isaac, and Mom

We stopped by to visit my aunt Kay and my niece Jandie. Isaac loves animals, so it was convenient that almost everyone's house we went to had different kinds of pets for him to play with!

Aunt Kay, Thumper, Isaac & Mom

We spent most of our time just visiting at everyone's houses, but we did get out a few times too. We went to lunch one day at Taco Amigo, which is just a little fast food place in Pleasant Grove, but it's one of my favorite places in Utah and holds lots of memories for me. And we went out for dinner one night with my two Utah sisters and my parents.

My sisters Wendy & Lisa and my Dad. Most of my family makes strange faces whenever you point a camera at them!

Isaac, me, and my Mom at dinner

I was glad that Isaac had the chance to spend some time with his grandparents that he hadn't seen in so long. It was funny because he called them "Utah Grandma" and "Utah Grandpa" the whole time. And then I'm sure he was confused when he met my grandparents as well! I guess we should work on coming up with better names for all of them.

My Dad taught Isaac to throw snowballs... at me of course!

On Saturday afternoon we drove out to Price to visit some of the Woods. Charlie's twin brother Chris, his wife Carly, and their three children live in Price and Charlie's parents will also be moving there soon. I think Isaac was in heaven to meet so many cousins on this trip and have so many new toys to play with all weekend. His favorite thing in Price was to ride bikes and cars down the big hill in their backyard.

Lucy, Isaac and Chris playing with the gerbils

Carly, Lucie, Isaac & Asher on the trampoline. Isaac liked to just lay there and have everyone else bounce him.

After church on Sunday we drove back into Utah Valley and stopped to visit my cousin Becky and her new husband Steve. Next it was time for family dinner at my grandparent's house. It was also Wendy's birthday and - even though she was being a bit of a party pooper - it was nice to celebrate with her. And dinner at my Grandma's house would not be complete without a few games afterwards. My Grandma is the master of all word games. I'm not sure if I've ever beat her at anything. We played Bananagrams and then some dice game called Farkle which I'm not sure I ever understood the rules for. I just rolled and she counted points for me!

Grandma, Aunt Shirley & my Mom playing Bananagrams

It was a fun weekend and I was glad I got the chance to see so much of my family. Isaac had a great time too and was super well behaved for the entire trip. Hopefully we'll be able to make it back to Utah soon.

And the day after we got back I ended up going to lunch with my CA siblings, so I was able to see my entire family within just a few days! It would have been nice if we were all in the same place at once, but I'll take what I can get. My sister Sandy & I had been meaning to take my brother Brian out for his birthday and we finally found a day that worked for everyone.

Sandy with my nieces Katie & Hailey, my brother Brian and his girlfriend Amanda

Project 365

2011-02-03T22:34:00.000-08:00

I think one of the reasons that I don't blog more often is that I feel like my everyday life is kind of boring. Or at least it would be boring to anyone else reading this blog. I love posting about all of our travels, but the in between, everyday life just doesn't always seem worth writing about. Or at least it wasn't until January 1, 2011. I was inspired by my friend Amy who kept a Project 365 blog last year. It was so fun and interesting to see all of her pictures and get little glimpses into her life and what she was up to. So I decided to give it a try this year, and so far I've been pleasantly surprised with my diligence in keeping it up. (Let's hope I can say the same a few months from now!)

Perhaps I was correct in assuming all along that no one would be that interested in my "boring" day to day life, but just in case you are - here is the link to my new blog. There's also a button on my sidebar. Maybe if I have a few followers it will help keep me motivated to keep it up for the next 11 months!

Coming Summer 2011

2011-01-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

Baby Wood #2 is due June 6, 2011, and it's another boy! I was very sick for the first few months, but am feeling much better now. We are very excited for this new addition to our family.

Christmas & New Year's

2011-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

It was really fun this year to have Isaac be so aware and so excited about all things Christmas. The lights, the Christmas trees, decorations, Santa Claus, presents, baby Jesus, and especially the treats!

Isaac moved to a new school when he turned three in August, but his old school ICEC has a Christmas party every year where they invite all of their former students. Santa Claus comes and lets each child choose a wooden toy (made and donated by a local retirement home). Maybe we are bad parents, but we had never taken Isaac to see Santa before this. I was a little nervous how he would react to sitting on Santa's lap, but Isaac was totally fine with it!

We always love going to Fashion Island to see the enormous tree. Isaac loved climbing on all of the giant presents and seeing the huge ornaments the size of his head!

We had some free tickets to Knott's Berry Farm that we needed to use before the end of the year. Charlie had a few days off the week of Christmas so we took advantage of the first non-rainy day we'd had in weeks and went to Knott's. It was a little crowded and Isaac could only go on the Camp Snoopy rides, but he loved it. Especially the little kid sized roller coaster and the "Big Rig" ride.

A few nights before Christmas we attended a neighborhood block party. The highlight of the party is Santa Claus, who comes to town with a full police escort. Here is Isaac watching all of the police cars, fire engines, and ambulance coming with their lights and sirens blaring. He was in heaven!

Then Santa goes inside and calls up each child by name and gives them a present (provided by the parents). Isaac was thrilled to get a new Thomas train!

Around Thanksgiving time when all of the toy ads started coming out, Isaac saw a picture of Stinky the Garbage Truck and was immediately convinced that "Stinky" was the one toy he wanted more than anything for Christmas. For those not in the know, Stinky is an obnoxious robotic trash truck that talks and eats trash. And Isaac loves it.

I don't have any pictures from our family Christmas gatherings. We ended up hosting Christmas day at our house, and things got a little crazy so I never got around to pulling out my camera. My brother Brian, and my sister Sandy and her family came over and we had a nice (though some what chaotic) time eating, opening gifts, and visiting with each other.

Here is Isaac later that evening playing with his new airplane & airport set. This was probably his favorite gift and he is still playing with it everyday. I guess it's appropriate for a kid who's been on dozens of airplanes in his short life.

For New Year's weekend we were really excited to have my good friend Amy and her husband Paul come and visit us. Once again, I was completely neglectful when it came to taking pictures, but luckily I was able to steal a few from Amy's blog.

We went for a beautiful morning walk/run on the Newport Peninsula, ate plenty of good food, got a baby sitter for New Year's Eve and enjoyed dinner overlooking the ocean at Las Brisas in Laguna Beach, visited the Christmas tree at Fashion Island, enjoyed cupcakes at Sprinkles, a bonfire at the beach, and spent a relaxing Sunday playing games, eating, and chatting. We had such a great time and hope that they come back to visit us soon!

And now here we are halfway through January, and back to our normal routines. Isaac is happy to be back at school and we have been enjoying warm sunny weather the past few weeks. We have some exciting things coming our way in 2011 and we are looking forward to a wonderful year!

Thanksgiving in Cancun

2011-01-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

The problem with waiting so long to write about our trips and other things is that I start to forget a lot of the details. Here are some photos (though not in any particular order) and a quick summary of our trip to Cancun.

It is a little sad to miss the big Thanksgiving holiday in the US, but we always find that it's a great week to travel because Charlie already has a couple of days off of work. It also does not seem to be a peek tourist time so we were able to get a fantastic rate on an ocean front villa at the Cancun Hilton. It was so convenient to be able to walk right out of our door and onto a gorgeous beach. The pools were fantastic and by far our favorite thing about the hotel. There were dozens of pools of various depths and water temperatures, so there really was something for everyone.

We were a little disappointed by the food on our trip. I suppose it should have been no surprise that staying in the heart of Cancun's tourist district would result in a plethora of over-priced restaurants with mediocre food, but we were still hoping for a little more authentic cuisine and for more reasonable prices. We never had a meal (even street tacos) that cost less than $30.

I know there are lots of couples who would never be able to agree on a beach vacation because one or the other would have a very hard time spending a week relaxing and not doing much of anything. Luckily Charlie and I are both happy to waste away days at a time laying on a beach or by the pool. And though Isaac does a little less laying and a lot more playing, he seems pretty content with it too. It took a day or two before he warmed up to the idea of going in the ocean, but he ended up loving it!

We had a rental car so we opted to do our own tour of Chichen Itza rather than the big tour bus, all inclusive, guided tour thing. And we were so glad that we did! We arrived early - before all the buses - and hired our own tour guide. It was very hot and humid that day and Isaac was not being very cooperative. I ended up carrying him most of the way and did not hear much of what the guide had to say. Also, someone left the memory card for our camera in the computer back at the hotel so we ended up buying a disposable camera from a souvenier cart. Gosh, and I thought the photos from my little point and shoot camera were bad! But I guess these are better than nothing.

One thing that I did catch and thought was cool, was when we were standing in a certain area near the large pyramid the guide had us clap our hands and it made this really cool echoing sound. It is kind of like a weird chirping noise that is supposed to be some sacred bird... and yeah, that's about all I remember. I found it fascinating though that they were able to engineer those kind of acoustics in an ancient stone temple.

Isaac's favorite part of the tour was the end! Here he is wearing Charlie's hat and drinking his diet coke. He also liked all of the vendors selling various knick knacks. He ended up with a little stone turtle and a ceramic Chichen Itza pyramid.

I mentioned the pools earlier, but here are a few more photos. Isaac seriously LOVED the pools. He could have stayed in there all day long. We loved that most of them were shallow enough that he could play in there by himself when we were ready for a break. He also really liked going in the big infinity pool and having us tow him around in his fish floatie.

Luckily our hotel was at the far end of "the strip" - which is what we ended up calling it because it was just a little too Vegas-ish for our taste - away from all of the mega hotels, malls, and chain restaurants. We did head down there most nights for dinner though. We got suckered into paying some guy a few pesos to take a picture with his monkey. Isaac loved it and Charlie was desperate for some hand sanitizer!

Here are our $30 street tacos. The cheapest dinner we had, but I thought it was also one of the best.

We never plan much of an itinerary for our vacations until after we arrive at our destination. Especially when traveling with a child, we prefer to be a little more laid back and have the flexibility to do what we want and not feel rushed or over-scheduled. So one day Charlie decided it would be fun to take Isaac to this little zoo called Crococun. This ended up being super fun!

I doubt there is anything quite like this in the US because there would be too much risk of a lawsuit from an animal bite or something. Here we are holding a baby crocodile. Charlie & I went to a crocodile place near Miami a few years ago and there was no way they were going to let you get anywhere near touching one of those things! Well at Crococun, not only do they hand over the babies, they walk you right into their swamp where you are just inches away from the full grown crocs. I think I kind of prefer the Miami version.

Isaac loved everything about this place, but one of my favorite things was when they brought out the snakes. The guide asked if Isaac wanted to hold it and Isaac did not hesitate for even a second! It was so funny to me how he was completely comfortable having this snake around his neck. And then a few seconds later it was not so funny when it ended up around my neck!

We also got to feed a lot of the animals. (If you notice the ugly camoflouge bag I am carrying in some of the photos, it is not mine. They give you a bag to put your animal food in so the monkeys don't jump out of the trees and take it from you!) We got to feed these deer who were not shy at all, and they would all surround you begging for carrots, sunflower seeds, and banana peels. To feed the monkeys you were supposed to hold a grape in your closed fist and then they would come down and pry your fingers open to get it. How am I ever going to take Isaac to a regular zoo in the US again?

Here's a few more random photos. We stopped at a roadside stand for drinks one day. Charlie came back with this thing in a bag for me and I was totally confused. Apparently my Fresca soda came in a glass bottle and the glass is very expensive for them, so they save the bottles and re-use them. Thus my drink was poured into a plastic bag with a straw. Who knew? Charlie said he drank like this all the time on his mission in Honduras.

On Thanksgiving Day we had dinner at a Mariachi place overlooking the ocean. This was another one of the better meals that we ate. And we all really enjoyed the aguas frescas (fresh fruit juice) in these cool crooked glasses.

We were told that after seeing Chichen Itza, Tulum would be a disappointment but I disagree. I loved the gorgeous setting overlooking the ocean. Plus, Isaac was a little more agreeable that day so I was able to actually learn a few things from our guide.

Isaac's favorite part was the train ride to and from the parking lot.

After seeing the ruins at Tulum we decided to check out Playa del Carmen. We were under the impression that it was less touristy and a little more quaint than Cancun. Maybe we went to the wrong part, but what we found was a very busy area with built up city blocks and no where to park. We had lunch and then planned to spend some time at the beach, but the beach we found was totally over crowded so we turned around and left.

Instead we headed back to the beach at Puerto Morelos. We had gone to Puerto Morelos a few days earlier because Charlie wanted to snorkel. The plan was for Isaac and I to stay on the beach while he went out on the boat, but that didn't happen. There is no way Isaac was going to miss out on that boat! He had been seeing boats all week and could not wait for his chance to ride on one. So all three of us suited up with snorkel gear and headed out. I didn't want to take my camera on the boat but I sure wish I had a picture of Isaac with his mask and flippers on. Totally hilarious and adorable!!! But he only spent about 10 seconds in the water before he freaked out and wanted to get back in the boat. Charlie still got to snorkel as planned and Isaac and I just hung out on the boat instead of the beach.

When we went back later that week we just enjoyed the late afternoon sun and relaxed on the beach. Here is the sand castle city that Charlie & Isaac built together.

More pool shots and a view of our hotel from the beach. I wish the beaches in CA had lounge chairs to rent. Totally beats laying your towel down on the sand! Also, you would think for such a large hotel (and we were not even in the main building but in the villas) that the beach and pools would be crowded, but they were surprisingly empty.

On our last night in Cancun we treated ourselves to some Haagen Dazs. Isaac normally prefers salty to sweet, but lately he is developing quite the sweet tooth. Maybe he will be more his mother after all.

I'm not sure if it was because we were leaving, or just because he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but Isaac was a total grump the morning that we left. Here he is pouting in one of the lounge chairs in the lobby.

And finally, the plane ride home. It seems that every time I fly through Miami we are delayed. This time it was a broken plane and a five hour delay. We didn't make it home till about 2:00 am. Despite his grumpy morning, Isaac was a very good traveler that day. Here are Charlie & Isaac sharing the Sunday paper. Isaac has the Toys R Us ad. :)

Overall we had a fantastic vacation and really enjoyed having the time to relax and spend time together as a family. As of right now, we have no future trips planned, but knowing us I'm sure it won't stay that way for long!

Blog Catch-up

2010-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

At the end of November our family spent a week relaxing and enjoying the beaches of Cancun. I was eager to post some photos on our blog and then I realized that I have neglected to post in over four months! I wanted to make sure I got caught up, so if you scroll down you will see several new blog posts. I even took the liberty of post dating them. :) Hope you enjoy the Blog Ketchup! Oh, and stay tuned for more posts coming soon.

Charlotte, NC

2010-11-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

At the end of October we took a trip to Charlotte, NC for a wedding. Charlie has an aunt & uncle that live there and they were kind enough to let us stay with them. We also flew Charlie's mom Janelle out for the weekend so that she could help watch Isaac. It was a quick trip but we had a nice visit. It was Halloween weekend, so you may notice that Isaac is wearing the vest from his Go Diego Go costume in every single picture.

Aunt Kathy & Uncle Scott have a gorgeous home and were fantastic hosts. Kathy's boys are all grown up but she still has a lot of their old toys. Isaac was in heaven! There were boxes and boxes of Playmobile, train sets, construction vehicles, dinosaurs, Matchbox cars, a garbage truck, a fire engine, etc, etc. He is still (6 weeks later) asking to go back to Kathy's house! He also loved staying in such a big house with lots of stairs, a big yard, and best of all - the Halloween decorations. Isaac was obsessed with all things Halloween this year, especially ghosts. These ghosts in the front yard were his favorite!

While we were there Kathy took us to a place called Lazy 5 Ranch. I had never seen anything like this before. You could either drive through in your own car, or ride in a big wagon. We purchased three buckets of food and opted to stay in our car. Immediately as you drive past the gate your car is surrounded by hungry animals. It was actually pretty hilarious. There was a sign at the ticket booth warning not to feed the zebras, but apparently Charlie didn't see it. The zebra grabbed an entire bucket of food and took off!

Isaac's favorites were the pigs and the llamas which he calls "mamas"

Here's a quick video of Janelle feeding the ostriches. We could not stop laughing! It was so funny because these animals would just go crazy really trying to get as much food as they could. They made a huge mess out of Kathy's car. Even when you were done feeding them and trying to drive off, they would chase after the car and try to get more. And then if you had your head turned to one side watching an animal, you better watch out because some other animal would come stick their head in the other side. Isaac of course loved it, but the adults all had a really fun time too.

We thought these guys were pretty gutsy to drive through in a convertible!

On Friday night Charlie had to take one of his customers out to dinner, so I went along with him while Janelle, Kathy, Scott & their son Jeff took care of Isaac. The next morning we headed over to a local pumpkin patch. We rode a big wagon out to the barns where they showed us how to milk a cow and let the kids feed the baby animals. Isaac's favorite part of this activity were all of the old tractors parked out in the field of pumpkins.

The wedding was at 2:00 that afternoon, so Isaac spent the rest of the day with his new entourage. They played at the house, rode on the neighbors Power Wheels tractor, went to a Trunk or Treat, played at the park, and had dinner at Chik-Fil-A. Isaac was totally spoiled and had a great day!

Charlie's first job out of college was working for Calphalon. His position started out in CA but he was eventually transferred to Toledo, OH. I have never been to Toledo, but from what I hear it was a pretty miserable place. Charlie became very close friends with some of his co-workers who had also been transferred. Everyone eventually left Ohio and ended up at various new jobs around the country. We were in North Carolina that weekend for Kristin's wedding.

I had only ever attended one Catholic mass before, and it was a funeral. The wedding mass is a little more cheerful. The church was beautiful and the couple was beaming the entire time. The ceremony was over an hour and I wasn't feeling that great, but I survived! Then we had a couple hours before the reception so we headed over to a local pizzeria with some friends. We stayed for most of the reception, but left a little early.

Charlie with his Calphalon friends Melodie & Kristin (the bride)

We had a nice weekend and were sad that we didn't have more time to visit and had to leave so soon. We were so grateful to Kathy & Scott for taking such good care of us all weekend, and for everyone making sure that Isaac had such a fantastic weekend. We hope to get back there again sometime soon!

Halloween

2010-10-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of fun dressing Isaac & Cracker up for past Halloween's. This year Isaac had an opinion. A very strong opinion. He wanted to be Diego from Go Diego Go. And when we asked him what Cracker should be, he knew right away. Baby Jaguar of course! Unfortunately there are no baby jaguar dog costumes out there, so I ended up making this one. Isaac was super excited and even let us spray his hair brown (too bad it was not quite the right color). Here are the pictures. A few good ones and a few funny out takes. Enjoy!

The real Diego & Baby Jaguar

Baby Jaguar taking a potty break

Potty trained!

2010-10-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Isaac's school is a year round program and in October he had a three week break. We decided to take that time to focus on potty training. Fun, right? The first few days were anything but fun. We had lots and lots of accidents and I was totally stressed out. A few days into it, he finally started to catch on with the pee and was doing really well. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that the poop took a little more time and patience on our part. He finally figured it out though and is doing really well. We are so proud of him and so relieved that he has been so successful with it. Yay Isaac!

Summer 2010

2010-09-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of summer time for the Wood family is going to the pool. I learned early on while dating Charlie that all of the Woods LOVE the water. Isaac is no exception! We spend most of our Saturdays during the summer months enjoying the Woodbridge pools. We also signed Isaac up for swimming lessons through our neighborhood association. It's kind of a silly little class because it only lasts for two weeks and they mostly focus on having the kids jump in the pool, putting their face in the water, and kicking their legs (all things that Isaac does on his own anyway). I think next summer we will start him in more regular lessons that move up with his skill level. Anyway, at least he had fun!

Isaac & his friend Hudson - Singing the "Little Speckled Frogs" song

Earlier in the summer a friend of mine gave Charlie & I her box seats for an Angel's game. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back a month or so later and take Isaac. This time we were up in the nose bleed seats instead of the box, so we didn't enjoy the game quite as much, but Isaac had a blast and it was perfect to let him run around a bit. Isaac is still talking about the baseball game, and whenever we drive anywhere near the stadium he always points out the big "A" and get's so excited. We will definitely have to go back!

Last but not least, I have to post a few pictures from Disneyland. Our passes were actually blacked out for most of the summer, but we were able to go back in August and September until they expired. It was fun to see Isaac finally start to have an opinion about which rides he wanted to go on. And he discovered a new favorite: the Autopia cars. He's a terrible driver but the more he crashed, the more he laughed and loved it. I could only hold out so long before taking the wheel!

Another favorite - the Tea Cups

Both of us really like the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I probably need to chill out a bit, but I get pretty competitive with this ride. I get really annoyed when Isaac turns our car all around and throws off my aim. He used to just sit and watch in awe, or use the controller to turn us around and around, but eventually he figured out how to use the gun too. As you can see in the second picture, he began to take this ride very seriously - just like his mother. Love the concentration here!

Isaac's Birthday

2010-08-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

This was the first year Isaac understood what a birthday was. I made the mistake of thinking he would forget about the toy I put in our shopping cart a few weeks ahead of time. Was I ever wrong! Not a day went by where I did not hear about the much anticipated "Diego Train."

First things first, assisted me in baking his birthday cake. I took the easy way out and stuck with a box mix. He was probably much more excited about the rainbow sprinkles than he would have been about something from scratch. Right?

For lunch we headed over to Chik-Fil-A. Isaac loves this place. I'm not sure if it is because of the food, or the play structure... or maybe both. He loves their criss-cut fries and fresh squeezed lemonade.

Once Charlie got home from work we took some time to open presents. Of course the Diego train was Isaac's favorite. I shouldn't have even bothered with anything else! (I know this looks like an enormous pile of presents but it really wasn't that much.)

That evening we headed to Disneyland for a couple of hours. Charlie is really not a fan of Disneyland, but he did have a season pass, and for Isaac - he was willing to use it. Here's Isaac riding the Tea Cups.

And finally we headed home for cake and ice cream. I put these plastic cars & trucks on top of the cake earlier in the day, and Isaac about went nuts waiting to pull them off of there!

The biggest change we faced with Isaac's third birthday was the change in schools. Isaac had to transfer from his services through Regional Center and ICEC to the Irvine School District and his new school, ECLC. We had a great experience with ICEC and were very sad to move on, but the transition went pretty smoothly and we have seen a lot of great progress from Isaac since he started at his new school.

On his last day at ICEC everyone sang Happy Birthday to Isaac and he got to open a present.

The kids ate mini cupcakes and mini popsicles to celebrate.

Here is Isaac with his birthday gift from ICEC: a new little backpack that is just his size. He absolutely loves it. Of course that made the really cute Pottery Barn backpack with his name embroidered on it that I got him for his birthday much less exciting, and he was kind of mad when I made him wear the one I bought to his new school.

But he got over it. Here he is on his first day of school at ECLC. We were able to go visit the classroom ahead of time and meet his new teachers. He had also been to the school several times for evaluations and since he got to play with lots of new toys there, he was pretty excited about his first day.

It's still a little hard for me to drop him off every morning. ICEC is a parent/student program so I was there with him a lot and very involved. ECLC is more like actual school. I drop him off in the morning and pick him up three hours later. I could even send him on the school bus if I wanted to but I'm not quite ready for that. Isaac would absolutely love it though. Maybe next year.

Weekend with Amy

2010-08-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I boarded plane all by myself for the first time in over three years. Charlie had suggested several times that I go away for a weekend, and I finally did it. Amy & I have been friends since we were 11 years old, but it had been a couple years since we'd seen each other. She and her husband Paul were gracious enough to host me for my little weekend get-away.

As soon as Amy picked me up on Friday night, we started talking and catching up, and never stopped until they dropped me back off at the airport! We had so much fun and really packed in a lot in just a couple of days.

Saturday morning Amy & I went out for a run on the Los Gatos trail that runs right by their apartment, then we showered, stopped for donuts, and went to the local farmers market. Next they took me on a little tour of San Jose and showed me their new neighborhood and their new home that they just bought!

After dropping Paul off at home, Amy & I headed over to the Winchester Mystery House for a tour. It is this crazy mansion that was under construction for 38 years! Sarah Winchester was the heir to the Winchester rifle fortune and she believed that the spirits of all those killed by the rifles were haunting her. She kept building and building in order to confuse the spirits and ended up with a 160 room mansion with doors that open into nothing, staircases that lead to the ceiling, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. It was fascinating to see.

Next we drove out to Santa Cruz, stopped to get ice cream, and headed to the boardwalk. It was fun to walk around and watch all of the carnival type rides. I didn't realize how brave I was being when I agreed to ride the Giant Dipper! It is one of those huge old wooden roller coasters, and for some reason I was thinking it would be no big deal. Wrong! It was a total thrill ride, but so much fun. Paul somehow managed to keep his hands in the air the entire time, while Amy and I didn't last past the first drop and let out continuous screams for the duration of the ride.

We walked along the coast and out to the cliffs to watch the surfers and the seals, and to check out the lighthouse. I think this may be the only lighthouse I've actually seen in person. It was a beautiful setting, with the sunset and the ocean behind us.

Sunday morning Amy baked us some yummy banana nut muffins, and then we headed off to church. Afterwards we drove up to Big Basin Sate Park to see the Redwood trees. It is kind of surreal to be surrounded by these enormous trees that seem to go up and up forever into the sky. It was also really cool to see some of the trees that had been damaged by fires or other things - some of them becoming totally hollowed out - but still continued to grow.

We had a non-stop fun weekend. Thanks again Amy & Paul for being such fantastic hosts! I felt so carefree not having to worry about anyone but myself for awhile, but at the end of the day there is nothing that makes me happier than being a wife and a mother and I was so happy to come back home to Charlie, Isaac & Cracker.

New Mexico

2010-08-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

We spent our 4th of July weekend in Las Cruces, New Mexico with Charlie's parents. We started prepping Isaac a few weeks ahead of time by telling him that he would get to ride in Grandpa's jeep, see farm animals, and see road runners. Unfortunately, we never did see a road runner, but otherwise the trip did not disappoint.

Isaac did really well in the car - it helped to have a DVD player with a new trash truck movie! We drove halfway on Thursday afternoon, stayed the night in Phoenix, and made it to Las Cruces around lunch time on Friday.

First things first: the jeep ride. We kept Isaac buckled up until we hit the back roads and then he got to sit up front with Charlie. He loved it! I think he was really excited to be in the front seat, and he loved rolling the windows down and driving on the bumpy roads and looking for road runners.

That night we went to Andele's for dinner. It is a local mexican restaurant where Karl & Janelle (Charlie's parents) ran into probably half a dozen different people that they know. It's a fairly small town and they've lived there for about 30 years, so it should be no surprise that they are so popular! Isaac was fascinated by all of the men coming in wearing cowboy hats. That's something you just don't see in Irvine.

Saturday morning Charlie & I went for a quick run (we had to miss the Woodbridge 10k this year) and then went to the mall. Isaac loved his first trip to Chuck E Cheese. He loved climbing through the play area and tube slides, playing the arcade games, and riding in yet another jeep.

We had lunch at Roberto's, which is known for their delicious food and terrible service! They are technically a "fast" food restaurant but we waited for over an hour for our food. It was not that busy, they are just slow... oh, and then they accidentally gave our food to the wrong people. It was pretty easy to tell who those people were, considering there was enough food for 7 people (5 of us and 2 of them) sitting in front of the couple across the room. I'm pretty sure they knew it wasn't their food but I guess they just couldn't pass up the opportunity. Anyway, no apologies from Roberto or any of his employees, but we did eventually get to eat and the food almost made up for the long wait. Last weekend I was half-watching the Food Network when I suddenly looked up and realized that Roberto's was being featured on Unwrapped. They hold the world record for the largest enchilada.

Later that afternoon we went on another jeep ride, this time way out west of the city. We saw cows. And lots of dirt and weeds and a small dust devil. No road runners. We had planned to stop for a picture by the giant road runner statue on the way back into town, but Isaac fell asleep. Here's the statue anyway:

Janelle offered to watch Isaac while Charlie & I went out on a date. We had dinner at home, and unfortunately there is not a whole lot to do in Las Cruces, so we went on a date to Wal-Mart. Which is actually something we wouldn't do back home so it was kinda fun in a way. Good people watching too. Next we headed over to Dairy Queen for a blizzard, where we ran into Janelle & Isaac. Like I said, small town.

Sunday morning Isaac donned his new cowboy hat (that we got for him at Wal-Mart) and we headed over to the University to see the farm animals. Karl is a Director at the University so it was no problem for us to be wandering around on a Sunday morning. We saw the sheep, pigs, horses, and cows. The stench from the pigs was pretty bad. When I show Isaac the pictures, he still tells me "Pee-yew, stinky!" Isaac loves construction vehicles, so I think his favorite part was being able to sit in a backhoe and a forklift.

We spent the afternoon at church, where Isaac willingly separated from us to go to the nursery. No one ever came to find us, so I think he did okay... but I think they were glad when we came to pick him up!

Now it was time to enjoy the holiday! Janelle made a fabulous dinner of brisket, baked beans, coleslaw, roles, an orange salad, guacamole, and probably even more that I am forgetting. After dinner we set off a few of the smaller fire works out in the backyard. It was so funny to watch Isaac's face as he watched the little fountains sparkle and pop. He was totally intrigued, maybe a little uneasy, but fascinated and kept requesting more, more, more! We also had some of the little poppers that you throw on the ground, but he couldn't do just one - he preferred to throw handfuls at a time. We bought the longest sparklers available, thinking they would be more fun, but also a little safer since they would keep the fire farther from Isaac's little hands. Well turns out they are not so safe for anyone standing within a 3-4 foot radius of Isaac! He just loved waving them all around. We quickly learned to stand back.

Janelle made homemade ice cream with fresh cherries and crushed Oreo's. It was kind of like a Cherry Garcia, but of course much better since it was homemade. After it was dark we headed out front to set off some of the larger fire works in the street. Isaac loved them and Cracker hated them. He hates every 4th of July. When we were just about to head inside, we started noticing the ariel fire works going off above us. Isaac was so excited! It was so fun to watch him experience the joys of fireworks. Personally I think holidays are much more fun when you have children.

Monday morning we packed up and headed home. We had a great time in Las Cruces and hope to go back once more before Karl & Janelle move to Utah.

Costa Rica

2010-07-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

Every year Charlie travels to Costa Rica on business, and every year I drop plenty of hints that I'd like to go with him. This year I did! Charlie used his airline miles to book tickets for Isaac & I and we turned it into a fun little family trip. We had a great time and I would be more than happy to accompany him again next year.

We were on our way out the door to the airport Saturday morning when Isaac ran back to his room and insisted that we bring his little suitcase that was still (hidden!) in the closet. He loves pulling it all around the airports with him.

Isaac has become quite a seasoned little traveler in his few years of life. He loves watching all of the airplanes and airport trucks out the windows of the terminal, and he loves being on the airplane too. He was such a good kid on this trip and we think he had a lot of fun too.

After arriving in San Jose, getting our rental car, and checking in at the hotel, it was a little past 10:00 pm. We set out searching for a place to eat dinner and ended up at TGI Friday's. Everything else was either closed or totally packed with the Saturday night party crowd. TGI Friday's turned out to be a pretty happening place too! Nothing like it is in the US. They had the disco lights flashing and loud techno music playing and all the servers were dressed totally crazy. Isaac LOVED it! (I tried to upload a video of his dancing but it was taking way too long.)

Charlie's distributor in Costa Rica is a small family run company, and when he is there they treat him like family too. On Sunday they invited us all out to their country home for the afternoon. Their whole family - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. - gets together every week for Sunday lunch. Everyone was so warm and welcoming. We had a great time! They have a big outdoor eating area with a large round grill where the uncles cooked up all the meat and everyone just sat relaxing and talking. All of the kids had fun swimming and going down the water slide. There was a little swing set out back that Isaac had fun playing on too. After lunch we went to see the horses and Isaac got to join the big boys in a soccer game.

Since Monday was Memorial Day, Charlie took the day off and we drove to Manuel Antonio - a national park/rain forest on the beach. We checked in at the Hotel Parador, where we were handed glasses of juice complete with tiny umbrellas, and were escorted to our room on a golf court. It was a beautiful room, but the real highlight was the gorgeous view of the ocean.

Within about 5 minutes of checking into our room, Isaac discovered the balcony and then decided to see what would happen if he threw Chick Hicks (a Cars character) over the rail. What happened was I got to go down and spend 10 minutes searching through the bushes for it! Not so fun. This happened not once, but TWICE. But the second time was truly an accident otherwise I might not have ventured back into the jungle looking for it.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and at the pool. We got pretty lucky with the weather while we were there. This time of year is their winter and the rainy season, but we had clear skies for most of the trip. It was hot and humid, but not unbearable. The ocean water was rather warm, but I actually like it that way! Charlie does not. And Isaac? Well he just doesn't like any ocean water at all. He loves the pool, but something about the ocean is scary to him. The water was super calm and warm, so I tried bringing him in but he still freaked out. He just had fun playing with his trucks in the sand and walking in the little streams of water that ran down the beach.

Back up at the hotel Isaac had a blast playing in all of the pools. The main pool had a shallow area with a very gradual slope and Isaac loved tip-toeing deeper and deeper until it was right at his chin and then I'd pull him up. He never did quite warm up to the alligator statue though. It was funny to see how cautious he was around it.

At dinner time we headed out in search of the "restaurant inside an airplane" that we had heard about. We knew Isaac would love it! It is called El Avion and is an old 1980's military cargo plane. The interior of the plane is the bar, and the restaurant seating is all outdoors. It was dark out, but in the day time you would have a beautiful view of the surrounding rain forest and the ocean. Charlie ordered red snapper and Isaac was totally intrigued to see a whole fish sitting on a plate. He even ate a few bites.

Walking back to the hotel after dinner we found a couple of frogs swimming in the pool. Isaac was ready to jump in there with them!

Perhaps one of the most memorable events of our trip occurred later that night as we were relaxing before bed. Charlie & I were both on our laptops and Isaac had fallen asleep between us on the bed. Suddenly we felt the whole place shaking and we turned to look at each other as it lasted for what felt like a few more minutes, but in reality was probably just a few seconds. A 6.3 earthquake, with an epicenter less than 10 miles away from where we were sitting. I think the thought that was going through both of our minds was that we were in a third world country, on the fifth floor of a hotel, and who knew what kind of building regulations were in place. Images of a demolished Haiti flashed through my mind as I prepared myself for the worst. But nothing happened. Nothing at all. We turned on the news and refreshed our google searches at lightning speed looking for any news, or tsunami warnings, but there wasn't much to be found. I must say, having lived most of my life in southern CA, I have experienced my fair share of earthquakes, but that one in Costa Rica was by far the most terrifying!

For several weeks leading up to our trip Charlie & I kept telling Isaac about all of the animals we were going to see in the rain forest. He has become a huge fan of "Go Diego, Go!" (or as he calls it "Dee-go GO!") and was really excited to be an explorer in the rain forest and look for monkeys. We knew we had to get up early the next morning to catch them and sure enough - there they were, right outside our door! We woke Isaac up and sat outside in the hallway watching families of monkeys climbing through the canopy of trees. He was so excited! On our way to breakfast we also saw a sloth curled up in a tree, iguanas lounging on the rocks, and a little frog hanging out in the hallway.

Isaac loved eating Fruit Loops for breakfast every morning because he never gets them at home!

And I loved eating gallo pinto for breakfast every morning, because I don't get that at home either.

Isaac thought it was really fun to ride on Daddy's back like a baby monkey.

We would have loved to spend more time exploring the rain forest or relaxing at the beach, but this was a business trip after all. On our way back to San Jose that morning we spotted a road side vendor selling all sorts of charming wooden toys and trucks. We just had to stop! Isaac was in heaven and I'm sure would have loved to stay and play, but instead we just let him pick one to take home. We weren't really sure how we were going to fit this thing in our suitcase, but we made it work.

We stopped for lunch at a Japanese restaurant where Charlie & I enjoyed some sushi (our favorite was the tropical roll with shrimp tempura, mango & avocado), and Isaac's lunch came out in this fun little boat. We also went into the office with Charlie for a few minutes and Isaac had a good time exploring the warehouse.

That night we were invited to dinner with all of the family. We went to a local steakhouse where one of the uncles told us he eats dinner at least once a week. I quickly understood why as the food was delicious! We ate grilled steak and chicken and all kinds of fresh grilled vegetables, bread, cheese, and fresh baked pastries for dessert. The dinner lasted a couple of hours but Isaac was very well behaved, and played quietly with his toys and ate his french fries (fries & fruit loops were just about all he ate on the entire trip!). I had the pleasure of sitting next to the grandmother of the family. She was so delightful to talk to! She was born in Lebanon, raised mostly in Canada, and later moved to Costa Rica where she raised her own family. It was so funny to hear her tell me about all of the American reality TV shows that she watches and the Danielle Steel novels that she loves. It was a fantastic dinner - great food & great company.

On Wednesday Charlie spent most of the day in the office, so Isaac and I were on our own. Luckily there was plenty to do within walking distance. There was a fun little park right across the street, and a mall with an arcade. Isaac had fun shooting hoops, playing ski ball, riding a motorcycle, and all sorts of other cool stuff. And in the end he even got a little plastic car with all of his tickets.

Vanessa, Charlie's main contact for the account, took us all to lunch. My friend Amy had suggested a few things for me to eat while in Costa Rica, and I finally got around to eating them. I had arroz con pollo (Costa Rican style chicken & rice) and banana con leche (which was like a frothy banana smoothie). Both were delicious. Thanks Amy for the recommendations!

As we were driving to the restaurant the sky was overcast and the air was feeling heavy and humid. So it was no surprise when during our meal we started hearing the pounding of a tropical rain storm. That pretty much killed our pool plans for the afternoon, so we ended up at the mall instead. For dinner I was eager to get back to Rosti Pollo for one more salad. I think I forgot to mention this place earlier. We ate here earlier in the trip and I totally loved my salad. This place is all about their roasted chicken, which is so moist and yummy. My favorite thing about the salad though was the dressing, which I really wish I knew to make. They called it Italian, but it was super light and not oily at all, with the perfect blend of spices and flavor. It really was a pretty simple chicken salad but that dressing made it just perfect.

Thursday it was time to head home. I was totally dreading the long day of travel - which ended up being even longer than we had planned - but it all went pretty smoothly. As a mother, I've found that I can pretty easily forget my own feelings of frustration, boredom, tiredness, etc. For the most part, as long as Isaac is happy, I am happy! So the fact that we were stuck in the Miami airport for nearly 8 hours due to thunderstorms, really turned out to be no big deal because Isaac was so well behaved! He just had fun playing with his cars, pulling his suitcase around the terminal, and watching the airplanes out the window. And by the time our plane FINALLY took off, he was so exhausted that he fell right to sleep.

Isaac loved this "Big Lady" statue in the lobby of the hotel.

We had a great time and hopefully will be back next year!

Part 2 - Barcelona

2010-05-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Our flight from London to Barcelona went smoothly. There was quite a long line for customs once we arrived but luckily Isaac fell asleep in the stroller while we were waiting, slept through baggage claim, and even transferred to the car seat in the cab and slept all the way to the hotel. One nice thing about the Barcelona airport is that the escalators are just a flat moving ramp instead of steps. Makes sense, doesn't it? Most everyone is pulling a suitcase, or pushing a luggage cart, stroller, etc so why wouldn't you just have a flat surface instead of steps?

On our drive to the hotel I noticed something out the window, which from a distance looked like some type of cliff dwellings or little apartment buildings. Whatever it was, I found it captivating and intriguing. As we got closer I could see more detail: a plethora of crosses, angel statues, and headstones made it obvious that this was the city's cemetery. I regret not snapping a picture but thanks to flicker and some other tourist's photography skills, I have a picture anyway!

The Barcelona Cemetery

We stayed at the Hilton Diagonal Mar which is right across from the ocean on one side, and a large shopping mall on the other. We thought it was a great location and enjoyed having the views of the city and the water from our window. Our room was a nice size (especially for Europe) and they brought in this extra long pack n' play for Isaac which worked out perfectly because Isaac is a pretty tall kid. I have never seen one of these in the US. It was just like all of our Graco pack n' plays except the length was that of a standard crib.

View of the Mediterranean from our hotel room

You can see Torre Agbar right in the center of the picture, Sagrada Familia a little to the right, and the Tibidabo church is on top of the mountain in the top right corner.

View from our room - that is the mall right below us

After getting settled in our room a bit we headed out for dinner. We just walked across the street to the mall and chose from one of the many restaurants facing the large courtyard. We ate at Vip's, which was a little like a TGI Friday's or some other chain. Charlie and I thought the food was decent, but I think it was probably Isaac's favorite meal of our entire trip. He is normally such a good eater at home, but for some reason he barely ate anything while we were away. That night at Vip's he got some of his favorites - chips with guacamole and refried beans. It felt a little late to us, eating dinner at 8:00, but the night was still young in Barcelona! Dinner for them is usually around 9:00 or 10:00 at night.

Isaac eating dinner at Vip's

Dinner at Vip's - papas fritas and some kind of taco things

Something interesting that Charlie noticed right away when we sat down for dinner was that the menu was not in Spanish. We later learned that as part of Catalonia, Barcelona has two official languages: Spanish & Catalan, which is more similar to French than Spanish. Charlie speaks Spanish well and had no problem speaking with the locals, but the written Catalan threw us off a bit.

Charlie at Vip's

Friday was a big site seeing day for us. It was Good Friday, so the stores were all closed, and I think many of the locals were out seeing the tourist sites with us! There were big crowds everywhere we went. The first stop was the Sagrada Familia. It is one of Barcelona's top tourist attractions and for good reason. This church is an enormous tower of catastrophe! Construction began in 1882 and it is not expected to be completed until 2026. It is considered to be the "master work" of architect Antonio Gaudi, who designed several other famous buildings around the city. I'm not a huge fan of his work, but it is definitely unique! We did not go inside because a) there was a long line, b) it cost a lot of money, c) Isaac would not have been patient, and d) to be honest, we just weren't that interested. Isaac liked this place because there were lots of tall cranes.

The Nativity Facade at the Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia Spires (plus a crane)

Some bizarre architectural details - gotta love the fruit on top of the church!

After viewing some of the facades and architectural details from the street, we strolled over to the nearby park to sit and enjoy the sunshine for awhile. After several days of cold & rain in London we were grateful for the warmer temperatures. Isaac chased pigeons for awhile and we shared a lemon ice.

View of Sagrada Familia from the park (Isaac & I are on the bench in the bottom right corner)

From there we set out walking to several other nearby sites. We saw La Pedrera, which is another Modernista Gaudi building. Charlie said he thought it resembled a Toon Town building because of it's curvy exterior and the way it seems to kind of melt into the pavement. By day it serves as a tourist attraction, and by night it serves as a nightclub to the locals.

Isaac & Charlie at La Pedrera

Next we passed by Casa Batllo, another Gaudi building, on our way to Palau de la Musica Catalana. This was one of my favorite buildings that we saw because I loved all of the colorful mosaic tiles and the pillars around the exterior. We would have liked to go inside to see the famous stained glass dome, but we opted not to because of reasons a, b, & c previously mentioned.

Mosaic pillars at Palau de la Musica Catalana

Charlie at Palau de la Musica Catalana

Isaac & Carrie at Palau de la Musica Catalana

We stopped by the Barcelona Cathedral and found that it too was under construction. This was good news for Isaac because spotting a crane always brings a smile to his face. We passed by a church, Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar, and stopped inside for a minute. To our amazement, Isaac happily sat in a pew and quietly observed the sculptures and stained glass windows. Too bad our church building at home doesn't have such an ornate chapel!

Charlie at the Barcelona Cathedral

Isaac checking out the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar

While on this trip Isaac learned how to pose for pictures. Before long he was picking out his own photo ops. He would run up to a truck, turn around, and say "eeeeese!" And then before I could even snap the photo, he'd come running back to see himself on the camera screen.

After walking around most of the day, we went back to the hotel to just relax for awhile and snack on some donuts. Earlier that morning we stopped by the supermarket at the mall hoping to stock up on bottled water and snacks, but unfortunately it was closed for Good Friday. The good news was that we found a Dunkin Donuts that was open, so we picked up a box to take back to the room. I rarely eat donuts, but when I do, I really love their Boston Cream. It's probably a good thing that there are no Dunkin Donuts in CA!

Around 8:30 we went back to the mall for some dinner. We ate most of our meals over there because it was just so convenient to walk across the street and they had a decent selection of restaurants. Even if it wasn't the best or most authentic food in the city, we did have some good meals. That night we chose a Spanish place called La Casa del Pescado. We ordered off the set menu which allowed us to sample a lot of the regional food. They served us a seafood soup, some mixed olives, a pasta carbonara, green beans with diced ham, a Spanish version of bruschetta, and Russian salad which was like an egg based potato salad. Charlie had the lamb chops and I had a seafood paella. I must admit, I didn't love any of the dishes, but it is always fun to try something new. It was crazy to me that as we were leaving the restaurant around 10:00, there were families with little children and babies just coming in for dinner!

Carrie & Isaac eating dinner at La Casa del Pescado

Spanish bruschetta, olives, pasta carbonara, Russian salad, green beans & fish soup

Lamp chops w/ french fries and seafood paella

On Saturday we were looking forward to doing a little shopping because it was the only day of our trip that the stores were actually open. We started out our day at McDonald's. Confession: we ate a lot of McDonald's in Barcelona! Internet service at our hotel cost 27 euros/day (approximately $35), but the wifi at McDonald's was free. So yes, we went to McDonald's everyday and sometimes twice a day (though we weren't always eating).

Isaac the drink snatcher - this kid loves soda!

After breakfast we were finally able to get into Auchan (the supermarket) and stock up on some drinks and a few other snacks for the hotel room. I liked their shopping baskets. They had regular shopping carts, but they also had the smaller baskets that you could either carry or pull. This store had the escalator ramps too so you could shop with your cart on both levels.

Shopping at Auchan

Next we took the subway to La Rambla, which is a shopping promenade in the center of the city. It is filled with shops, restaurants, street performers, and souvenir stands selling all kinds of jewelry, art work, flowers, and even birds. Though it is packed with people, and feels a little kitschy, it was still interesting to see. At the end of the boulevard is El Corte Ingles - a huge seven floor department store that carries everything you could possibly think of! We knew there was a cafe inside and we were hoping to sit down for a drink or a little snack, so we kept going up and up and up these escalators, and when we finally reached the seventh floor we found a cafe that was totally packed with a huge line of people waiting to sit down. So we turned around and headed right back down.

The people in Barcelona seemed to really enjoy Isaac, more so than the people in London. Lot's of people, mostly on the subway, would want to touch his face or his hair and someone was always willing to give up a seat for him. And Isaac loved loved LOVED the subway! This was by far his favorite thing in either city. He loved to watch for the trains coming down the tunnel and feel the gust of wind as they rushed into the station. He also loved having his own seat and watching out the window, and counting all the stops until it was time to get off. And the escalators in the stations were pretty fun too.

Anyway, after leaving the store we headed over to Barceloneta, which is a neighborhood right on the Mediterranean. I loved this area because the architecture is all 18th century, rather than the more Modernista feeling that you get in many other areas of the city. (Okay, I know this is nerdy but I saw an episode of the Bachelorette where they went to Barceloneta and so I kind of had it in my head that that was how the whole city would look.) We walked down through the harbor, stopped for some gelato, and then walked along the beach all the way back to our hotel. There was a nice pathway where Charlie also went running every morning.

Once back at the hotel, Charlie offered to stay with Isaac while I did a little shopping. I am always up for shopping! The mall was totally packed and crazy, but I managed to walk away with a couple of little finds. Apparently, Charlie & Isaac had a little photo shoot while I was gone because this is a sample of what I found on the camera later on:

That night we went back to the crowded mall once more for dinner at a Mexican place. Definitely "mall food," but with Isaac it's really just so much easier to grab a quick bite than to try and sit in a restaurant where a meal is a 3 hour event.

Sunday morning we awoke to cloudy skies and rain. It was Easter Sunday and we knew that not much would be open. We started our day with Toblerone McFlurries and then spent a little more time in our room just relaxing and waiting for the weather to clear up. I had read in our guide book that the museums had free admission on the first Sunday of each month, so we thought we'd try our luck at the Picasso museum. It took a bit of wandering before we found the place and along with it, we found a packed alley way and about an hour long wait to get inside the museum. Needless to say, we did not go inside. By this time the skies were clear and it had turned out to be a beautiful day.

In addition to the cemetery, one thing I noticed while driving into the city was a church building on top of the mountain overlooking the city. Tibidabo is the highest point in the city. In addition to the church, there is an old amusement park located at the top of Tibidabo. Our journey to the top began by taking the subway out to the edge of the city. There is an old trolley that runs from the subway stop to halfway up the rest of the hill. Like most things in Barcelona that weekend, the line for the trolley was just a little too long. We decided to walk and get a little work out in. Finally, we boarded a funicular (a cable car on a steep railway) that took us the rest of the way up. Upon walking out of the station we were immediately greeted with a spectacular view of the city. Even with the views from our hotel room, we hadn't realized how far out the city stretched. From the top of Tibidabo we could see Barcelona stretching out all around us and the Mediterranean disappearing into the horizon. It was quite breathtaking.

Carrie & Isaac at the Tibidabo lookout

Charlie at the Tibidabo lookout

A view of Barcelona from Tibidabo

As I'm sure most two year olds would be, Isaac was much more interested in the amusement park behind us than the views in front of us. The park is over a 100 years old and has a quaint charm to it. I would have loved to stay longer but being up so high with wind chill it was pretty cold out. The two rides Isaac chose to go on were the ferris wheel and the airplane. We walked right onto the ferris wheel, but the airplane was a different story. The line didn't look that long, but I just didn't realize how slowly it was moving! The airplane is a 1928 replica that is propelled by it's own engine and turns in circles above the park. We probably waited 45 minutes for this - the longest we waited for anything during the entire trip!

Isaac riding the ferris wheel at the top of Tibidabo

Charlie waiting for us down below

The Temple de Sagrat Cor at the top of Tibidabo

The airplane ride

After some down time at the hotel that evening we headed - you guessed it - across the street to the mall for some dinner. This time we chose a place called Freeway, an international buffet. Unfortunately their attempts at French, Italian, Mexican, Asian, and American cuisine were rather unimpressive. They did however get the Spanish food right! We had seconds and thirds of the bread with jamon serrano & manchego cheese, and also the grilled chorizo sausages.

Our last day in Barcelona was spent relaxing on the beach & by the pool. Since we had booked a beach front hotel on the Mediterranean, I think we were both hoping that the weather would be a little warmer than it was. The low 60's are pleasant enough, but not exactly ideal for sunbathing or swimming. But the Wood brothers can never pass up an opportunity to get in the ocean, and sure enough Charlie went for a quick swim in the freezing cold water! Isaac is still a little wary of the ocean and greatly disapproved of his dad disappearing under the waves. The two of us stayed safe and dry up on the sand.

Later on that day we spent some time at the pool. Isaac can never resist a pool, even one that is filled with freezing cold water! I never went in past my ankles, but Isaac kept getting a rush out of stepping down to his waist and then jumping back up to higher ground. Charlie, of course just dove right in! He even talked Isaac into coming with him out to the middle of the pool. I'd like to say I was perfectly content to just relax in the sun, but I was not. I was feeling a bit irritable that day and not enjoying sitting outside with the cold wind. So our pool trip was cut short by me, the grump.

Can you tell I was really happy to be there?

For our last night in Barcelona we headed out to another La Rambla type boulevard known for it's shopping and restaurants. We ate dinner (not at the mall!) at an Italian place that was actually fairly authentic, and shared a margherita pizza and spaghetti carbonara. Our last stop for the evening was to see the Torre Agbar. It is an egg shaped sky scraper that is covered in blue and red fluorescent lights and marks the technological district of Barcelona. There's not anything to do there other than to take a picture, so that's just what we did.

The Torre Agbar at night

Isaac waiting for the subway train

Tuesday morning we were sad to pack up and leave, but after 10 days of vacation we felt ready to get back home. We flew from Barcelona to JFK and then back to LAX. It felt like an incredibly long day, and it was! After being awake & traveling for 22 hours we finally dropped into bed, happy to be home. And Cracker was very happy to have us home too!

We thought Barcelona was a charming city and we enjoyed having time to enjoy the culture and to just relax and be together as a family. Barcelona is not home to any famous tourist sites, and there is no one thing that would draw us back there, but the city as a whole was impressive and worth paying a visit to. We do wish we had not visited during a holiday weekend when things were so busy and crowded. But most of all, we just enjoyed having a family vacation and spending time together. We feel very fortunate to be able to travel to such fabulous places and to create wonderful memories.

Next stop: Costa Rica!

Part 1 - London

2010-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

After being home for almost two weeks, I feel like I have already told so many people about our trip. But for anyone who hasn't heard yet, or wants more details, or just wants to see pictures, here you go!

We took a red eye flight from LAX to Heathrow. It was such a smooth and easy flight and the night flight made the jet lag pretty easy to deal with. We had dinner, watched a movie, and then everyone fell asleep. Isaac got a pretty solid 5 hours, while Charlie & I just dozed a bit. Once we landed we hit the ground running! It was a bit of a juggling act managing all of our bags, a car seat, and a stroller. We took the train from the airport to Paddington station and then just took a cab the rest of the way to Tyler & Maren's house.

Charlie & Isaac riding the train from Heathrow to Paddington

Charlie's brother Tyler works for the State Department and is assigned to the London Embassy for the next couple of years. He & his wife Maren have a beautiful four bedroom flat in Hampstead. They were so nice to let us stay with them and to help show us around the city. Charlie's twin brother, Chris & his wife Carly were celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary, so Charlie arranged for them to fly to Paris, and then meet up with us in London too.

It was mid afternoon by the time we made it to Tyler & Maren's house, so we just dropped off our bags and then took off to meet up with Chris & Carly. Our first stop was Westminster Abbey. We didn't go inside, but just let Isaac run around and chase pigeons for awhile. We got our first views of Big Ben and Parliament and then we walked down towards the London Eye and watched some of the street performers.

Westminster Abbey

Isaac watching the street performers from Dad's shoulders

They have a carousel there, and Isaac loves carousels so we decided to take him on it. As we were waiting in line for our turn, I began to have second thoughts. I have never seen a carousel spin so fast! And then we also noticed that there were no seat belts on these horses either. Well there was no way we were going to get out of that line without Isaac throwing a fit, so he & I got to take a ride on the carousel of doom. We survived. Isaac loved it and I felt sick for the next half an hour.

Carrie & Isaac on the carousel

That night Tyler suggested we have dinner at The Audley - a classic English pub. We ate in the upstairs dining room (where Michelle Obama ate recently). I had fish & chips and smashed peas with mint. I loved the peas, but Charlie was not a huge fan so I suppose I won't be making them anytime soon. We rode home on a double decker bus. A must do for any London tourist, right? Well at least a must do for Isaac! He loved it.

Isaac loved seeing all of the double decker buses (sorry it's blurry!)

The next day Tyler had to work, but the rest of us headed out to Leicester Square to buy theater tickets. We checked out the markets in Covent Garden, and Charlie bought a little snack. As he was eating it, I said "hey, that's a hot cross bun!" Everyone knows what a hot cross bun is, right? It's that first song that you learn when playing any instrument: Hot Cross Buns. Except Charlie had never heard of it! I'm glad we were able to enlighten him. Next we walked down to Picadilly Circus to have lunch. We ended up at Ed's Diner - a classic American 1950's diner - and ate hamburgers & cheese fries.

Isaac at Ed's Diner

Chris, Carly & Maren at Ed's Diner

Next it was time for some shopping! Okay, so we got sucked into a souvenir shop:

Isaac's police hat. We meant to get a picture of him wearing it next to a real officer, but never did. He wears it all around the house since we've been home.

Then it was off to Harrod's. I think we are pretty spoiled living in Orange County and right next to South Coast Plaza. That being said, it was still fun to browse all of the designer fashions as well as their impressive food gallery, the Egyptian Hall, and the toy department. We managed to walk out empty handed but Charlie & I were joking that we could do some serious damage if we wanted to!

Charlie & Carrie outside of Harrod's

By the time we made it to our next stop Isaac was sound asleep. I don't mind a little jet lag if it means Isaac will actually take a nap (he gave them up about six months ago)! We decided to wake him up for the Natural History Museum. He went from this:

To this:

All it took was for me to whisper "Isaac, do you want to see some dinosaur bones?" He slowly opened his eyes, sat up, and got a huge smile on his face. It was really funny. And he loved the museum. He saw dinosaur bones, all kinds of animals, fish, rocks, fossils, etc.

Isaac checking out the monkeys at the museum

Isaac's "fish face" - it's kind of a backwards pucker, but we think it's funny

Isaac & Carrie with the dinosaur bones

The sister-in-laws outside the museum: Maren, Carrie & Carly

The twins: Chris & Charlie

After the museum we split up for the evening. Chris & Carly went to see the show Chicago and totally loved it. Maren headed home, and Charlie, Isaac & I went to ride the London Eye. It started raining on our way over, but luckily we had this:

I remember when we bought this Maclaren stroller thinking that I would never use the rain cover! But after spending a few days in rainy England I completely understand why these English strollers come with rain covers!

We did not have the best weather during our visit, but at least we never got stuck in a major down pour. Anyway, we figured we were never going to have a fantastic clear view while we were there, so we might as well do the Eye in the rain. We were still able to see quite a bit. I thought Isaac would be more excited about riding the "giant ferris wheel" but instead he was kind of grumpy and only wanted to sit on the bench and eat gummy worms. He actually really liked the 4-D movie afterwards. I was surprised that he kept his glasses on for the whole thing (it's only like 5 minutes) and it was so funny to watch him reach out and try to grab the seagulls flying by!

Charlie, Isaac & Carrie on the London Eye

A view of Big Ben & Parliament from the London Eye

Isaac riding the London Eye

Isaac & Carrie riding the Eye

That night we had dinner at an Italian place (not so great), and then stopped at a grocery store on the way home to stock up on Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars. We also discovered Cadbury cake rolls. They are like those Little Debbie swiss cake rolls, but way better. Yum.

First on our list for Tuesday was to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. This turned out to be a disappointment! Not only were the guards dressed in their "rain gear" (boring grey coats and very average looking hats) rather than the bright red coats and Bearskin hats, they never even did the ceremony. I assume it was because of the weather? But it was actually pretty clear that day.

Maren & Carrie outside of Buckingham Palace

Charlie & Carrie at the Palace gates

Charlie, Isaac & Chris at the fountain outside of Buckingham Palace

We did see a few carriages and horsemen passing by, but not the official ceremony. As the carriages were passing by, with their shades drawn, I was trying to imagine who might be traveling inside. It seemed surreal to see these guards in their traditional capes & hats and a horse drawn carriage in the middle of a modern city, and think that this was not just a show but actually still a form of transportation.

Tyler met up with us for lunch and we headed to Trafalgar Square and the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martin's church. Chris & Carly had volunteered to take Isaac for a day, so after lunch we split up. Isaac left with his aunts & uncles and Charlie and I had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves! I was feeling a little anxious because I have never left Isaac for quite that long (10 hours), and I think I was just nervous that he would wonder where I was or be sad. I knew he was in good hands though, so I managed to get over it and enjoy a day of childless vacation.

Tyler, Maren, Charlie, Isaac, Carrie, Carly & Chris

Charlie and I decided to spend the afternoon shopping. We checked out a few European department stores and browsed the designers on Oxford Street. As we were walking Charlie pointed out this little cream puff place: Beard Papa. They have all of the puffs ready made, and then you choose your filling and they prepare them for you. This is genius because then the puff doesn't get soggy and the cream is still cool when you eat it. We ordered the chocolate covered eclairs. We thought it was such a cool little place, and unique to London... until we got home and googled it. There is a Beard Papa in Costa Mesa (about 10 miles away from us)!

Charlie ordering eclairs at Beard Papa

For dinner we ended up at the Indian Brasserie right next to the theater. We had two kinds of naan bread, chicken tikka masala (a little too spicy for me), butter chicken (which was delicious but was probably way more butter than anyone should be eating in one meal!), and basmati rice. Though not the best Indian food I've had, it was the only Indian food I've had in quite awhile and it reminded me we should eat it more often.

Carrie at the Indian Brasserie

Next it was off to Mamma Mia. We both had so much fun! We had seen the movie and enjoyed it, but the show was much better. There are more songs, better vocals, and it's just a little more scandalous, but funny! We had the songs stuck in our heads for the next several days.

Charlie & Carrie outside the Mama Mia theater

We arrived back at Tyler & Maren's house to find Isaac bathed and ready for bed with a big smile on his face. He had a fun day with Chris, Carly, Tyler & Maren. They went to the British Museum, had crepes from the crepe stand, and Maren cooked dinner for everyone at home. They said he was very well behaved; better than he is for his own mother. That I can believe!

Carly & Isaac at the Natural History Museum

Isaac & Carly playing back at the house

Wednesday morning Chris & Carly had to head home to Utah. Maren had been playing tour guide for five days straight and was ready for a rest, and Tyler had to work, so we had a day to ourselves. Our plan was to stop for breakfast at this famous Creperie de Hampstead that we had been hearing so much about, but they were closed! So we ended up at McDonald's.

Charlie & Isaac at McDonald's

Our next plan was to go see the Tower of London, but as we walked out of the underground we were blasted with freezing wind and rain that was turning to snow. I could feel my hands going numb as I was fastening the rain cover on Isaac's stroller. I am a huge wimp when it comes to cold and knew I'd be miserable if I didn't get back inside. And so, back on the subway we went. We decided to go see St. Paul's Cathedral. But that plan didn't go very far either. We saw it, took a picture, went inside, and then turned around and left. We opted to save the 25 pounds and save the headache that we'd surely have from trying to keep Isaac happy inside a cathedral. I think what I will remember most about that place is that I managed to stall the big revolving door on my way in. It caught on the back of my foot and automatcially stopped moving. No one could get in or out for about 10 minutes. I'm just glad I was already in and not out in the cold!

St. Paul's Cathedral

By the time we got back to the Tower it had stopped raining and seemed a little warmer. Now the problem was Isaac. He just wasn't having a great day. We wanted to take the guided tour but knew that he would probably not have the patience for that. We did get to see the Crown Jewels, a Beafeater, the Tower Green, and the gift shop. That's about it. The jewels were beautiful, but I found some of the gold serving ware to be a little ridiculous. The Grand Punch Bowl for instance, which weighs about 5oo lbs and is big enough to bathe in. Really, who is going to drink that much "punch?" Anyway, I was explaining some of the history of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to Charlie and I think he must have been impressed because he asked how I knew so much. And then I think he was not so impressed anymore when I told him that I had read The Other Boleyn Girl. Hey, it's still history even if it is a romance novel!

Carrie & Isaac at the Tower Green

A view of the Tower Bridge from inside the Tower of London

Oh, and we finally saw a guard with the Bearskin hat! Aren't these guys supposed to be totally straight faced and stoic? Because this guy failed miserably! First of all, he was chewing gum - a total "no no" if you ask me. And second, he didn't even seem to be trying not to laugh. We were not even funny.

Charlie & the Tower gaurd

I thought the Tower Bridge was beautiful. Everyone always mistakes this for the London Bridge. I wonder how that got so mixed up? The London Bridge is actually very plain, while the Tower Bridge is the famous and regal bridge that everyone recognizes. Next time we are in London I would love to go up and take the tour.

Charlie at the Tower Bridge

We stopped by Westminster Abbey and Big Ben once more on our way back to Hampstead. And then one more stop before heading back to the house: the Creperie. Okay, when Tyler and Maren told us about this place we pictured something a little different. We didn't realize that it actually was just a crepe stand. But it is famous, and for good reason! They use a ton of butter and make the crepes just a little bit crispy, then load them with nutella and banana slices (or whatever you choose), fold them up, slide them into their little paper wrapper, and serve them with a knork. Yes, a knork. That is what we decided to call these little plastic knife/fork utensils that we had never seen before!

Charlie ordering crepes from Le Creperie de Hampstead. It really is just that little stand!

Charlie with his crepe and the "knork"

Maren made us a nice home cooked meal that evening, and we were able to do some laundry and pack up in preparation for the next part of our trip. But as we were talking about our day, those crepes started to sound really good to everyone and we decided to head back out for one more. Why not? We were on vacation!

Carrie, Maren, Tyler & Isaac waiting for crepes. There is always a line!

Thursday morning Maren took us out for a little more shopping at Selfridges, which is famous for their unique window displays, and then over to the Embassy. We had to get special clearance as Tyler's visitors, and then go through full security and check all phones, cameras, etc. outside. Not just anyone can go in, so we felt kinda cool to be able to go on a tour.

Carrie, Charlie & Isaac outside of the US Embassy

And that was pretty much the end of our visit to London. We took a cab back to the airport, and from there flew to Barcelona for the second half of our trip. That will be another post!

Charlie, Carrie & Isaac outside of Tyler & Maren's flat

Despite any mention of grumpiness on Isaac's part, he was actually very well behaved on our trip. We think he had fun too. He loved being on the airplane, pointing out double decker busses, playing with his aunts & uncles, exploring Tyler & Maren's house, and he especially loved riding on all of the subway trains.

Isaac was excited to see so many double decker buses

Isaac riding on the subway

Overall we had a great time and really enjoyed London. It did not feel very international to us - more like a city in the US. (Charlie says Boston, but I've never been there so I can't compare.) We were lucky to have such wonderful hosts and a great place to stay. We are already planning to go back!

"Hotlanta"... was actually freezing cold!

2010-01-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Atlanta for Charlie's work event. I have to admit, this was not our best trip. Isaac's behavior has been a little extra difficult lately, and I should have known that traveling with him wasn't a wonderful idea. The first mistake was packing up this little suitcase that we got him for Christmas. He was obsessed with it and insisted on pulling it all through the airport. The problem is that he has a tendency to walk incredibly SLOW and also to not watch where he is going and run into people a lot. At least he looked cute...

Our flight from Orange County to Dallas was delayed, so by the time we landed our connection time was extremely tight. We were literally running through the airport to get to our gate and barely made it on the flight. Unfortunately, we were faster than our bags. We arrived in Atlanta only to find that our luggage was still sitting in Dallas. Ugh. We picked up our loaner car seat and headed on our way. By the time we got to our hotel it was after midnight and we were tired, hungry, and freezing cold! Atlanta had one of it's coldest weekends ever including an inch of snow. It rarely snows there, and the city didn't seem to know how to handle it. The whole weekend we kept finding restaurants and stores closed "due to weather!" Anyway, I think the low that night was 15 degrees and we certainly were not dressed for it. Our coats were in our suitcases, and I wasn't even wearing socks! The next morning we headed out to Target to pick up a few essentials (including socks) and ended up waiting till almost 3:00 for our bags to show up. Charlie had to go downtown for work, so Isaac and I just hung out at the hotel for awhile.

That evening we were finally able to enjoy a little bit of Atlanta. It is always fun to do some shopping while we are there because we hit all of the after Christmas sales. We didn't find much this time... perhaps because our shopping trips were limited by 1) closed stores (due to that treacherous inch of snow) and 2) Isaac's complete lack of patience in any store that does not sell toy trucks.

We met up with our friend Felicia for dinner at the Colonnade. We love this place! The food in Atlanta is half the reason I went on this trip. There is no where in Irvine to find anything like it. Dinner for me was macaroni & cheese, mashed sweet potatoes, chicken fried chicken, country gravy, homemade rolls, and key lime pie. I might have gained a few lbs on this trip!

Saturday Charlie had to go back downtown for work. Last year Isaac & I visited the Georgia Aquarium and had a great time, but this year I decided on something different. (Isaac totally freaked out at the Aquarium in San Francisco in August, and had a similar reaction to the indoor tanks at Sea World last month, so I figured we'd find something else to do.) Thanks to Felicia for recommending Monkey Joe's - Isaac LOVED this place! We paid $5 to enter a big warehouse type building full of bounce houses, inflatable slides, etc. Isaac jumped like crazy for two full hours. I had to drag him out of there after he started laying down on the floor not wanting to get up, but not wanting to leave either. They had a few bouncers dedicated to the 2 and under crowd, but Isaac preferred jumping with the big kids because they made him bounce more. He really was having a great time and it was funny to watch him climb the big ladder and go down the giant slide with all of the big kids.

We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and stopped by PetSmart to see all the animals too. Isaac actually loves fish, I think the big aquarium tanks are just a little overwhelming to him right now for some reason. The little ones at the store are just fine. He also loves to see all of the birds, mice, hamsters, chinchillas, lizards, snakes, cats & dogs too.

That night we met up with our friend Jeff and his girlfriend Shauna at the Woodfire Grill. I forgot to get a picture, but we had a fantastic dinner. I have found the solution to keep Isaac good while out at restaurants: hand him my iPhone. He doesn't eat much, but it might be the only way we would actually get through a two hour dinner with him! The food was delicious. I had a fillet mignon wellington with snow peas, au gratin potatoes, baked mac & cheese, and Charlie & I shared a pizookie for dessert. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I wonder if I could actually make a decent wellington? I'll have to be on the lookout for a good recipe.

I can't remember if it was Jeff or Felicia that recommended the OK Cafe to us, but whoever it was: THANK YOU! There was a bit of a wait, but it was definitely worth it. The waitresses all had cute retro 50's style uniforms and were of course super friendly (as is most the city it seems), and the food was awesome. Charlie & I had veggie omelets, home fries, bacon, and buttermilk biscuits. I ordered Isaac a rolled pancake with apples & pecans, but since he wasn't that interested in eating it I had to help him out. We joked that we should just sit there for a couple hours and wait around for lunch.

Our trip home was somewhat miserable thanks to a certain 2 year old, but we did eventually make it and our bags made it too this time. Up next is our trip to London & Barcelona at the end of March. We have been looking forward to it for months, so we are praying that Isaac can cut down on his tantrums a little before then. Otherwise we might just have to leave him home with Cracker!

2009 Year in Review

2010-01-01T16:05:00.001-08:00

Since I didn't do a very good job keeping our blog updated last year, I thought I'd try and catch up on a few things that I missed. I mostly have to rely on pictures to remember what actually happened! Maybe I'll do a better job posting in 2010.

January

We spent New Year's in Henderson with Chris & Carly and their family.
We took a trip to Atlanta. Charlie was there on business, while Isaac visited the Georgia Aquarium, went shopping, and enjoyed room service.
Isaac split his head open on the coffee table and we made a trip to Urgent Care.
Isaac started a program at ICEC (Intervention Center for Early Childhood).
Isaac & I took advantage of the warm weather & our season pass and spent some time at Disneyland.

February

Isaac had a major stomach flu and couldn't keep any food down for over a week. Charlie and I ended up with it too, but we recovered in a few days.
Janelle (Charlie's mom) and Cassi (our sister-in-law) came to visit for a long weekend.
We all went to Miami for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Charlie was working and hanging out with the Food Network stars while Isaac & I were enjoying the beach and the pool.
My parents moved back to Utah. Charlie broke his foot while helping with the move.

Being sick requires extra pacifiers!

March

Charlie & I hired a baby sitter (the only time we've ever done this!) and went to a 80's party for my friend Erin's 30th birthday.
We dog sat and spent a lot of time in the yard.
This is always Charlie's busiest month for work. I'm not sure what Isaac and I were doing...

April

I turned 29 and Charlie took me to lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe (one of my favorite places to eat, mostly because of their Boston Cream Cake).
We celebrated Easter Sunday at my aunt & uncle's house. Isaac got a fun basket from the Easter Bunny.
Isaac said his first word: "go."
We went to Hawaii! This was our third time to Kauai, where we stayed for most of the trip. We also made a day trip to Oahu to explore the island a bit and see some of the sites there. Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip a little short and come home early because...
Cracker broke his back. He lost the use of his back legs and was in a lot of pain. We decided to go ahead and get surgery for him to save his life. We love our dog! Our friends Sam & Sherri took care of Cracker while we were gone and took him in for surgery.

May

We celebrated Cracker's 6th birthday. He had to be on "crate rest" for several weeks after his surgery. Then we had to do physical therapy with him to help him be able to walk again.
Isaac was moved from the Infant program at ICEC to the Behavior program. This group is for children with behaviors & signs of autism.

June

Isaac and I made a few more trips to Disneyland.
We hung out with my sister & her family in Chino Hills.
I don't have many pictures! I guess we just enjoyed the summer and played in the water.

Isaac & his cousins Katie and Ryan

July

We ran the Woodbridge 10k for the 4th of July.
We took a trip to Utah for a Wood Family Reunion. We also got to visit my parents, my sisters, and my grandparents while we were there.
We started Isaac on a gluten free casien free (GFCF) diet.

August

We went to San Francisco for a week. Charlie had to be there for work. Isaac & I went to the Aquarium, the zoo, the beach, and the pool.
We celebrated Charlie's 32nd birthday while we were in San Francisco. We went to dinner downtown with some friends.
We also celebrated Isaac's 2nd birthday. We had a fun day at home opening presents and eating cake.

Isaac had fun feeding goats at the petting zoo in San Francisco

Charlie's 32nd Birthday Dinner

Isaac playing with his new birthday toys

September

Isaac & I got to go back to Disneyland after being blocked out for the summer months. (We really don't spend that much time at Disneyland, but I am going off pictures here & I guess I always brought my camera to Disneyland!)
We celebrated Labor Day by relaxing at the pool. I think we actually spent a lot of Saturdays at the pool over the summer too.
Isaac was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We had suspected this for quite awhile, so although it was not a shock to us, it was still very sad. I could write a lot more about Isaac & autism and all of his therapy and biomedical treatment, but I think most people who read this blog already know what we are dealing with. (If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.)

Isaac, Daylynn & Hudson at Disneyland

Isaac & Daniel get their first glimpse of Lightning McQueen in the Pixar Parade!

October

Chris (Charlie's twin brother) & Carly and their family came to visit. We had fun going to the beach, the pool, and Disneyland. Cracker made friends with their dog Oliver.
Charlie showed Isaac how to play games on the computer. He already learned how to use my iPhone several months earlier. Now I can't use either in his presence without him begging for a turn!
We went on a field trip with ICEC to the Irvine Regional Park pumpkin patch.
Isaac & Cracker dressed up as sharks for Halloween.

Chris, Carly, Asher & Charlie at Laguna Beach

Isaac with Jess, his speech therapist

Isaac LOVED the bounce house!

November

Charlie & I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary.
Charlie's parents & his brother Kelly and wife Cassi came to visit. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, had a bonfire at the beach, ate a lot, and went on a fishing trip.
Isaac said his second word: "uh-oh."

Isaac's ICEC School Picture

December

After 5 months and not seeing any major improvements, we took Isaac off of the GFCF diet. Now that he can eat cheese again, he has a third word: "eeeese!"
We had a nice quiet Christmas at home. Isaac loved having all the decorations up and seeing Christmas lights everywhere. He loves his new car garage and his tricycle.
On New Year's Eve we drove to San Diego & spent the day at Sea World. Isaac had fun seeing dolphins, penguins, whales, sharks, and a polar bear. His favorite thing was the gondola ride across Mission Bay.

Isaac looking at the dolphins at Sea World

Isaac watching penguins

And I think that about wraps it up. I'm sure there are plenty of things I missed. Overall, 2009 was a good year but we certainly had our ups and downs. We are looking forward to a wonderful 2010. Happy New Year everyone!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

For the first time since we've been married, Charlie & I decided not to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. It was nice to be able to stay home and enjoy the holiday, and have family come visit us. Charlie's parents came from New Mexico, and Charlie's brother Kelly & his wife Cassi came from Utah. We also had my sister Sandy & her family come over to join us for dinner. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed eating leftovers for several days afterwards.

Cassi & Kelly

Charlie's Parents: Karl & Janelle

Sandy, baby Hailey, and Ryan

Chris & Katie

Charlie & Carrie (and Isaac in the corner)

Earlier in the day we went to the park across the street to play bocci ball and enjoy the sunny 84 degree weather! Isaac had a great time playing & digging with his trucks in the dirt... until he realized he was missing out on all the fun with the bocci balls. The game came to an end when he decided to get in on the action and start grabbing the balls off the court!

Isaac before he discovered the bocci balls!

Every time Charlie's dad has come to visit us he has wanted to go fishing, but it has never worked out before. So this time we made sure to work it in! The day after Thanskgiving Charlie, Karl, Kelly & Cassi took a half day fishing trip out of the Newport harbor. They caught over 30 Perch, which are pretty small little fish, but they had a good time. Janelle, Isaac, and I stayed home and hit up a few Black Friday sales, went to lunch, and then relaxed and watched a movie.

Kelly, Cassi & Karl

Saturday night after Charlie's parents left, we took Kelly & Cassi up to LA for a Mariachi show! This place is the real deal. We were the only white people in the entire restaurant. It was a fun night and Isaac really got into it. He kept standing up in his seat to dance and clapping with the audience at the end of each song.

We had a fun holiday and are now looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home.

Trick or Treat!

2009-10-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Watch out for these two little sharks! Here they are last night at the church "Trunk or Treat."

And today playing in the backyard.

Isaac actually likes wearing his costume! He thinks it is fun to put it on and go look at himself in the mirror. We think he makes a pretty cute little shark.

I have never been a big fan of Halloween, but I must admit it is pretty fun dressing Isaac & Cracker up! Here they are in 2007 and 2008. Any suggestions for 2010?

Back to the Blog

2009-10-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been nearly 5 months since our last blog post. No, I don't have any great excuses. I kept meaning to update it but then I felt overwhelmed by all of the stuff I missed and think I should write about. So I am just going to go forward from today. Maybe I'll catch up on the older stuff later... and maybe I won't.

This morning we went to the Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch with some friends. I have known this place existed, but I had no idea how huge it was! We took a wagon ride around the farm and over to the pumpkin patch. Isaac loves tractors, so he was excited to ride on the wagon being pulled by a big tractor.

Inside the tents - another tractor! And pumpkins.

The ride back took us through all the fields and Isaac enjoyed checking out the scenery.

In other news, the A/C in our car broke this week. It was cool and rainy the day that it happened so I didn't think it would be a big deal. But then yesterday it was 85 and today it was close to 90 and Isaac and I were being cooked! I didn't know if I could be without a car and get to & from the mechanic to pick it up, since Charlie is in China right now and our other car is sitting in the parking lot at LAX. Luckily I have known my mechanic for years (way back to the days of my old Corolla), so he offered to give me a loaner car. And here it is:

A 1995 Chrysler Lebaron. After sitting on the shredded driver's seat, with my hands literally sticking to the steering wheel, listening to all sorts of rattling, and praying the roof didn't blow off on the drive home, I have never been so grateful for our Acura!

Hawaii

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At the end of April, we took our annual trip to Hawaii. We went to the island of Kauai. We had a nice relaxing time. Unfortunately, it already seems like it was so long ago!

We spent the week relaxing, waking up late, going to the beach, relaxing at night, and spending good quality time as a family.

We rented a condo on Poipu Beach. It was the perfect location and had beautiful grass lawns and Isaac loved to run around and chase the birds

Here is the beach in front on our condo. It was perfect. We spent most of the week laying on this beach.

We also enjoyed the food- The Shrimp Station in Waimea.

Last year- we tooks a great picture of Isaac on this wave. He was only 9 months old and he waved perfectly at the camera while we was riding the wave. This year- at 20 months, he wasn't so cooperative.

We took a day trip to Oahu and explored the island. In the picture below is 'China Man's Hat'

We also wen to the North Shore and went to the famous 'Pipeline' where the surfers ride very big waves. Unfortunately- the waves were not big and there weren't many surfers. We must have gone the wrong time of day.

Here is Isaac and Charlie at the Pipeline

We also visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Isaac thought these fish were really cool!

Isaac and Mom

We had a nice time seeing Pearl Harbor.

Isaac didn't like going in the water- but he loved laying out in the sun! (Don't worry- he was lathered in SPF 50 all week long.)

And he was a pretty good traveler. On the afternoon flight over- he was great. On the red-eye flight back- he didn't sleep at all, but didn't do too bad.

We are already looking forward to next year's trip.

Weekend

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One of the reasons that we bought this condo was because of the yard. Considering we live in California, and in Irvine, and in a condo... our yard is actually quite huge! We spent several hours on Saturday getting it cleaned up and ready for spring. And that's when Isaac discovered the joy of a garden hose.
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He probably spent half an hour playing in the water. It was really fun to watch him play and giggle in delight.

Our ward boundaries for church were changed a few weeks ago, so now we have a whole new ward and new callings too. Charlie & I are now teaching the 9 year olds in Primary. This Sunday was our first week teaching and meeting our new class: Jonathan, Joe, Rider, Staten, Anna-Julia, Maya, Audrey, and Alex. We are looking forward to a fun year with these kids!

Also on Sunday our friends brought over their dog Bubba; a 15-month old Golden Retriever. They left Bubba with us for the day while they were down in San Diego.

Bubba is a big, playful, rambunctious puppy! We all had fun with him except for Cracker. Cracker is a little prejudice and does not like other dogs unless they are dachshunds. He did like Bubba's big bone though!

The Real Housewife of Orange County

2009-03-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

From looking at our blog, some of you might think that all we do is travel. False. The real truth is just that most of my life is not that exciting to write about! I've looked through my photos from the last few weeks and tried to find something that might be interesting enough to post and here's what I've got...

80's Party!

My friend Erin turned 30 and had a fun 80's themed birthday party. We got to go all out and get dressed up for the occasion. We even hired a baby sitter for the night!

Charlie Broke His Foot

My parents moved to Utah at the end of February and we went over to help them finish packing and load up the truck. If anyone knows my mom, you know that she has one of the cleanest homes you will ever enter. So in order to keep the carpet from getting dirty during the move (even though it is not her carpet anymore), she lined the stairs with plastic. Plastic stairs = slippery stairs. Next thing you know, Charlie is on the ground and all of the boxes he was carrying are on his foot.

I Broke the Trash Can

Like I said, my everyday life is not that interesting. But since we are on the subject of things that are broken, why not? I was just going to empty it but it slipped out of my hand. Charlie is out of town so of course I had to take a picture for him to see what happened. And now you all get to see too!

On Mondays I Baby Sit

My friend Sherri takes a pilates class on Monday mornings and I watch Daniel and Lucie for her. It is kind of fun having double kids and double dachshunds for a few hours! And Sherri watches Isaac for me too so it is a great trade off.

St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we made corned beef & brocolli. Yes, brocolli not cabbage. We made cabbage the year that I was pregnant and the smell made me so sick that I don't think I'll ever be able to eat cooked cabbage again. Anyway, Isaac loved the corned beef AND the brocolli! He is a great little eater. Sometimes I have to trick him into taking that first bite of something new, but once he tastes it, he'll eat pretty much anything.

Santa Ana Zoo

For all of you locals, did you know that there is a zoo in Santa Ana? I didn't! But now I know and so do you. It is much closer than San Diego or LA and much cheaper too - only $7 (and kids 2 and under are free). Of course, as you might expect, it is also much smaller. Charlie was out of town over the weekend so I was looking for things to keep Isaac & I busy. Sherri & her family joined us on Saturday and we spent a couple hours at the zoo. The highlights for Isaac were (see photos above): the elephant, the train, and the goats. Next time maybe we will even get to ride the elephant.

And last but not least...

I Painted the Baseboards!

I totally just went and took a picture so I could show off all my hard work. Charlie is at his big event of the year in Chicago (standing on his broken foot all day, poor guy!) so what better time for me to paint the baseboards, right? Especially since we have had them for over a year now! They came primed white so it wasn't that noticeable (please tell me you haven't all been noticing my ugly baseboards for the past year), but you could still see nail holes and unfinished spots. Not anymore! My baseboards are pretty and semi-glossy white now.

And that is what I have been up to in the past few weeks. Or at least what I took pictures of.